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1    •  Illllll  III  II          I  I 

3  1822017193616 


SECRET  OF 


«OOD  MEMORY 


HEALTH   AT    HOME 
LIBRARY. 

Works  on  Mental  and  Physical  Hygiene. 

BV 

J.  MORTIMER  GRANVILLE,  M.  D. 

The  Secret  of  a  Clear  Head. 
Common  Mind  Troubles. 
Sleep  and  Sleeplessness. 

The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 
How  to  Make  the  best  of  Life. 


Each  volume  i6mo,  dot/i,  60  cents. 


D.  LOTHROP  &  CO.,  Publishers, 

Franklin  and  Hawley  Streets,  Boston. 


THE   SECRET 


OF 


BY 


J.  MORTIMER-GRANVILLE. 


BOSTON 
D.    LOTHROP    AND    COMPANY 

FRANKLIN    AND    HAWLEY    STREETS 


TO  THE    READER. 

So  far  as  I  am  aware,  no  writer  on  "  Mnemon- 
ics," or  propounder  of  a  formal  system  of  memory, 
has  hitherto  recognised  the  fact  that  every  mind 
"takes  in"  and  "treasures"  the  impressions  re- 
ceived through  one  sense-agency  —  e.  g.  sight  or 
sound — with  especial  readiness;  while  in  "remem- 
bering" it  employs  the  same  or  another  sense,  men- 
tally or  physically,  as  an  agent  to  recall  the  im- 
pressions previously  lodged  in  the  memory. 

It  is  obvious  that  no  success  in  cultivating  the 
memory  can  be  confidently  expected  unless  the  sys- 
tem of  training  adopted  is  of  a  nature  to  suit  indi- 
vidual peculiarities. 

The  purpose  of  the  following  pages  is  to  show 
how  the  faculties  employed  in  memory  may  be 
tested  and  their  strength  or  weakness  ascertained, 
so  that  the  method  of  culture  pursued  may  be  in 

(v) 


vi  Preface. 

harmony  with  the  law  of  Nature.  Surely  the  natu- 
ral way  of  remembering  must  be  the  best. 

If  it  were  not  abundantly  proved  by  experience, 
as  well  as  laid  down  by  authority,  that  "  there  is 
nothing  new  under  the  sun,"  I  should  claim  origi- 
nality for  the  recognition  of  certain  special  use  made 
of  sound-phantoms  and  sight-phantoms  respectively 
in  the  cerebral  work  of  "  taking-in,"  "  treasuring," 
and  "  recollecting,"  as  described  in  the  following 
pages. 

However  the  question  of  priority  may  be  decided, 
I  will  venture  to  ask  the  reader's  aid  in  developing 
the  subject,  and  making  it  thoroughly  practical.  To 
this  end,  I  beg  that  every  one  interested  in  the  ex- 
periments detailed  at  pp.  26-32  will  send  me,  under 
cover  to  the  Publisher  of  this  little  book,  the  first 
rough  papers  employed  in  testing  his  own  powers, 
and  those  of  any  othsr  persons  who  may  take  the 
trouble  to  make  the  inquiry.  My  object  will  be  to 
determine  the  relative  proportion  of  sound  and  sight 

memories  extant. 

J.  MORTIMER  GRANVILLE. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

WHAT  MEMORY  is,  AND  HOW  IT  WORKS     .     •  i 

TAKING-IN  AND  STORING  IDEAS 20 

WAYS  OF  REMEMBERING 42 

FACTS 53 

FIGURES 69 

FORMS 77 

PERSONS 80 

PLACES  .     .     .    • Si 

PROPERTY 82 

THE  SECRET  OF  A  GOOD  MEMORY  .  86 


vn 


WHAT  MEMORY    IS,  AND   HOW 
IT   WORKS. 

LET  us  try  to  get  a  general  notion  of  what  hap- 
pens when  we  receive  a  mind-impression  from  some 
object  of  sight,  sound,  feeling,  or  thought,  and, 
taking-in  or  forming  an  idea,  store  it  in  the  mem- 
ory to  be  "  recollected "  at  future  periods  either  by 
accident  or  intention. 

When  a  voice  is  thrown  into  the  receiving  aper- 
ture of  a  phonograph,  it  sets  a  disc  like  a  drum- 
head vibrating.  At  the  back  of  this  disc,  and 
attached  to  it,  is  a  needle  which,  with  every 
movement,  impresses  and  indents  a  sheet  of  tin- 
foil spread  on  a  revolving  cylinder — that  is,  each 
vibration  of  the  disc  engraves  with  the  needle  a 
mark  on  the  tin-foil.  The  forms  of  these  marks  or 
impressions  vary  with  every  sound,  and,  when  the 


2  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

cylinder  is  caused  to  revolve  at  such  a  rate  as  to 
move  the  tin-foil  away  as  fast  as  it  is  marked,  the 
result  will  be  a  dotted  line,  which  is,  in  fact,  the 
'writing  of  a  sound. 

The  tin-foil  thus  inscribed  will  retain  indefinitely 
the  impressions  it  has  received.  If  it  be  now  placed 
in  an  instrument  so  constructed  that  a  needle  at- 
tached to  a  musical  drum  or  disc — the  reverse  of  the 
apparatus  just  described  —  shall  pass  along  the  tin- 
foil and  be  made  to  vibrate  by  the  marks  previously 
indented  or  engraved  on  its  surface,  this  vibration 
will  set  the  musical  disc  in  motion  and  produce  a 
series  of  sounds  closely  resembling  those  which  first 
marked  the  tin-foil. 

Hereafter,  doubtless,  it  will  be  found  possible  to 
ascertain  the  precise  character  of  the  marks  pro- 
duced by,  and,  in  their  turn,  capable  of  producing, 
particular  sounds.  When  this  is  accomplished, 
cylinders  may  be  engraved  with  the  indentations 
necessary  to  cause  certain  vibrations,  and  a  system 
of  sound  or  voice  writing  will  be  established. 

Meanwhile  we  may  notice  four  points  of  interest : 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works. 


1.  The  phonograph   when   in  motion   receives  the 
impression  of  every  sound  which  is  thrown  into  it ; 

2.  The  record  is  indelible  though  dormant ;   3.  The 
impression   received    can    be    reconverted   into   an 
expression  whenever  the  cylinder  is  again    set   in 
motion  under  suitable  conditions ;  4.  What  was  re- 
ceived  as   a   sound    is   recorded   or  retained   as   a 
physical   record.      These   facts   about    the   phono- 
graph will  serve  to  illustrate  the  process  of  mental- 
impression  and  memory. 

Brain  substance,  speaking  broadly  and  in  a  popu- 
lar sense  but  with  sufficient  accuracy,  consists  of  a 
multitude  of  cells  or  corpuscles  or  granules  of  living 
matter,  which  are  capable  of  being  impressed  by 
mental  or  nerve  force,  as  the  tin-foil  on  the  cylinder 
of  a  phonograph  is  impressed  by  physical  force. 
Whether  these  corpuscles  are  altered  in  form  or 
state,  or  simply  thrown  into  special  relations  with 
each  other  when  ideas  or  thoughts  are  projected 
upon  them,  science  has  not  yet  been  able  to  ascer- 
tain, but  that  they  are  in  some  way  physically 
affected  by  every  mental  act  is  certain. 


4  TJte  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

Whatever  we  hear,  see,  or  think,  produces  an 
impression,  wholly  irrespective  of  any  conscious- 
ness on  our  part.  Attention,  and  what  is  called 
interest  in  a  subject,  may  deepen  the  impression 
produced  ;  but  the  brain  receives  the  impression  of 
passing  thoughts,  and  of  ideas  presented  to  it  — 
even  without  our  knowledge.  The  record  is  indel- 
ible so  long  as  the  corpuscles  themselves  last,  or  are 
capable  of  reproducing  others  which  shall  be  the 
counterpart  of  themselves  in  the  process  of  bodily 
growth  and  change.  A  large  and  healthy  brain, 
well  nourished,  will  take  in  and  register  a  vast  num- 
ber of  ideas,  and  the  records  so  treasured  up  con- 
stitute the  physical  bases  of  memory. 

In  the  process  of  recollection,  mental  force  — 
whatever  that  may  be  —  throws  the  brain,  like  the 
cylinder  of  the  phonograph  on  which  the  dented  tin- 
foil is  stretched,  into  a  state  of  activity  probably 
-vibratile,  and  the  result  is  a  reproduction  of  the 
ideas  which  previously  impressed  the  brain.  This 
is  a  concise  but  general  account  of  what  occurs 
when  the  mind  is  in  action.  Now  we  can  compare 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works. 


the  two  phenomena  —  sound  writing  by  the  phono- 
graph, and  thought-recording  by  the  cerebrum  — 
with  the  consequential  processes  of  reproducing 
sounds  from  the  dots  and  lines  traced  on  the  tin-foil 
of  a  cylinder,  and  re-collecting  thoughts  from  the 
altered  or  specially  related  corpuscles  of  brain  sub- 
stance. 

It  is  only  while  the  receiving  cylinder  of  the 
phonograph  revolves  that  sound  impresses  it,  so 
to  say,  legibly,  and  it  is  only  while  the  brain  is  in 
action  that  impressions  of  thought  are  received  con- 
sciously, but  all  sounds  and  all  perceptions  are 
recorded  by  the  phonograph  and  the  brain  respec- 
tively. This  last-mentioned  fact  is  of  high  moment 
in  relation  to  mind  and  character  —  which,  so  far  as 
the  mental  part  of  the  individuality  is  concerned,  is 
the  formulated  expression  of  mind.  The  surround- 
ings and  collateral  influences  operating  on  a  mind 
impress  and  permanently  mark  it  continuously, 
whether  consciously  or  unconsciously. 

Ideas  or  thoughts  occurring  at  the  same  time  are 
generally  connected,  as  though  the  impressions  they 


6  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

produce  were  recorded  on  the  same  tablet  or  traced 
on  the  same  sensitive  surface  ;  hence  what  is  called 
the  "  association  of  ideas."  Some  reach  the  brain 
through  the  eye,  others  through  the  ear ;  many  — 
the  most  completely  objective  —  impress  themselves 
by  their  various  qualities  or  characteristics  through 
the  several  senses  at  the  same  instant :  as  when  the 
idea  of  "  wind  "  forms  itself  from  the  sight  of  bend- 
ing trees,  the  sound  of  the  blast,  and  the  feeling  it 
produces  of  force  and  cold ;  the  impression  being 
many-sided  and  produced  through  the  eye,  the  ear, 
and  the  general  sensation  simultaneously. 

The  perceptive  keenness  of  the  several  senses 
differs  with  the  individual  development.  Some 
persons  receive  impressions  more  readily  through 
one  avenue  than  by  others.  This  is  not  unfre- 
quently  so  much  the  fact  that,  even  with  regard  to 
the  reception  of  ideas  presented  to  their  minds  in 
language,  they  can  understand  what  they  read 
better  than  what  they  hear,  or  the  converse  ;  and, 
although,  as  above  remarked,  impressions  are  re- 
ceived unconsciously  as  well  as  consciously,  that 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works. 


which  is  best  understood  generally  makes  the  clear- 
est, deepest,  and  therefore  the  most  permanent  im- 
pression. 

It  is,  however,  true  that  the  brain  is  impressed 
while  the  consciousness  is  inactive,  and  perhaps 
also  while  the  attention  is  diverted ;  and,  when  the 
brain  is  afterwards  thrown  into  action,  it  will  re- 
produce ideas  which  seem  quite  new,  because  the 
mind  has  no  recollection  of  having  previously  re- 
ceived them.  This  explains  many  strange  cases  in 
which  persons  have  been  found  possessed  of  knowl- 
edge with  which  they  had  not  previously  been 
credited  ;  and  it  throws  some  light  on  the  fact  that 
there  is  little  originality  in  the  world,  and  that  men 
and  women  with  the  most  innocent  intentions  repeat 
their  own  ideas  and  those  of  other  persons,  com- 
mitting obvious  plagiarisms  unwittingly. 

Once  lodged  in  the  brain  or  mind,  a.n  impression 
may  lie  dormant  indefinitely  until  some  discharge 
of  mental  force  or  energy  happens  to  take  place 
through  the  particular  layer,  or  stratum,  of  cor- 
puscles which  embodies  the  record  of  the  idea.  If 


8  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

the  mind  has  intentionally  considered  the  subject- 
matter  of  a  particular  set  of  conceptions  thus  re- 
corded, this  act  will  have  created  a  special  chain 
of  connections,  or,  as  it  were,  laid  a  train  of  com- 
munications, along  which  an  effort  to  re-collect  or 
re-cover  the  idea  will  travel  easily  and  call  it  back. 

This  is  how  what  is,  as  we  say,  most  "  thorough- 
ly learnt"  comes  to  be  most  easily  remembered. 
It  is  not  impressed  more  deeply  or  indelibly  than 
much  we  have  never  tried  to  learn  and  would 
gladly  forget,  but  it  is  specially  linked  with  other 
ideas  by  thought  and  placed  ready  to  be  recalled. 
It  is  possible  to  develop  this  artificial  process  of 
"  committing  to  memory,"  or  preparing  to  recol- 
lect, too  highly,  and  thereby  to  prevent  the  stability 
of  impressions  received,  as  by  the  method  known 
as  "  cramming,"  the  recourse  of  overburdened  or 
hurried  students,  but  a  disappointing  artifice  at 
best,  and  one  which  may  easily  prove  disastrous 
to  the  mind  which  is  unnaturally  pressed  and 
distressed. 

Every  one  has  some  special  method  of  his  own 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works. 


for  recalling  ideas.  Some  persons,  as  I  have  said, 
take  in  notions  of  fact  best  by  the  ear  or  by  the  eye 
respectively  ;  and  the  mind  afterwards  converts  the 
impression  thus  received  into  the  form  most  con- 
genial to  its  sympathies  or  instincts. 

For  example,  if  a  man  with  an  acute  faculty  of 
hearing,  but  a  preference  for  thinking  by  the  agency 
of  mental  sight,  listens  to  a  lecture,  he  sits  with  his 
eyes  closed  and,  unconsciously  perhaps,  pictures 
the  words  he  hears  as  if  writing  them.  Such  a 
person  will  probably  form  the  connecting  links  of 
his  ideas  by  thought-picturing,  and  when  he  desires 
to  "remember"  what  he  has  heard  he  will  again 
close  his  eyes  and  call  up  his  mind-pictures.  The 
errors  into  which  a  mind  so  working  is  likely  to 
fall  in  learning  or  recollecting  will  be  those  proper, 
so  to  say,  to  defective  or  hurried  perception  by  sight 
or  vision.  Another  person  will  convert  the  impres- 
sions he  receives  by  sight  into  sounds,  and  probably 
remember  by  tone  or  tune. 

It  is  therefore  by  no  means  a  necessity  that  the 
same  mental  sense  which  is  used  in  receiving  im- 


IO  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

pressions  should  be  employed  in  recollecting  them  ; 
but  it  generally  happens  that,  if  a  thought  or  idea 
is  consciously  stored  in  the  mind,  it  will  be  recol- 
lected by  the  same  mental  process  that  treasured  it 
in  the  memory  —  that  is,  the  process  or  method  of 
thinking  for  which  the  mind  has  a  preference. 

In  sleep  mental  force,  like  a  weak  current  of 
electricity,  seems  to  permeate  the  substance  of  the 
brain  without  any  directing  purpose,  and  the  result 
is  a  successive  awakening  of  thoughts  without 
order  or  inter-relation,  except  such  associations  as 
may  have  been  formed  in  the  physical  bases  of 
memory  by  the  fact  of  a  particular  set  of  ideas 
having  been  impressed  on  the  same  surface  or 
tablet,  or  specially  connected  by  thought,  as  before 
explained. 

When  the  mind  is  intentionally  "  thinking," 
thought  travels  more  or  less  directly  in  the  lines 
projected  by  a  definitive  purpose,  and  in  a  well- 
organized  mind  calls  into  action  only  particular 
records  which,  for  the  most  part,  it  knows  where 
to  find.  When  "  thought  wanders,"  because  the 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works.  1 1 

will  is  impotent  or  lacks  purpose,  and  when  the 
volitional  consciousness  is  suspended,  as  in  sleep, 
the  tension  of  thought  is  reduced  to  a  minimum, 
and  the  force  seems  to  flicker  through  the  accumu- 
lated mass  of  corpuscles,  passing  at  random  from 
layer  to  layer  or  stratum  to  stratum,  with  the  result 
of  inchoate  dreams. 

"  Reverie,"  and  the  day-dreaming  which  charac- 
terises, if  it  does  not  constitute,  certain  forms  of 
insanity,  is  mental  wandering  of  this  meaningless 
sort,  which  toys  with  the  records  of  ideation,  the 
bases  of  memory.  The  habit  of  allowing  the  fac- 
ulty of  thought  to  wander  capriciously  through  the 
storehouse  of  memory  and  turn  over  its  treasures 
with  no  fixed  intent  —  in  a  word,  thinking  which  is 
not  thinking,  but  a  listless  submission  to  thought  — 
whether  the  object  be  to  indulge  in  prurient,  to  bask 
in  pleasant,  or  to  brood  in  selfish  sorrow  over  sad 
and  painful,  recollections  —  is  one  that  seriously 
undermines  the  authority  of  the  will,  and  tends  to 
bring  about  that  insubordination  of  the  thinking 
faculty  which  first  prevents  natural  sleep,  and  then 
destroys  reason. 


1 2  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

The  majority  of  common-place  dreams  are  sim- 
ply recollections  heaped  together  without  system  or 
method.  What  coherence  they  seem  to  possess  is 
due  to  the  original  associations  of  the  ideas  which 
compose  them,  when  these  were  first  impressed  on 
the  brain.  The  subjective  experience  is  very  much 
like  turning  over  a  portfolio  of  pictures  illustrating 
places  which  have  been  visited  and  scenes  witnessed. 
Sometimes  the  most  recent  memories  are  reproduced 
in  sleep,  at  others  the  more  remote. 

The  series  of  records  among  which  thought  wan- 
ders in  sleep  will  depend  chiefly  on  the  general  tone 
and  tension  of  the  mind,  with  this  factor  in  the  case, 
that,  if  only  the  consciousness  sleeps  and  the  auto- 
matic '  faculty  of  mental  activity  remains  awake,  the 
latter  is  likely  to  go  on  with  the  work  of  the  day, 
and  then  the  worry  of  dreaming  about  work  or  of 
recent  experiences  is  produced,  with  all  the  weari- 
ness and  irritation  this  troubling  of  brain-rest  inflicts 
on  the  mind  and  its  sense-organs. 

The    automatic  faculty  of  thought,  by  which    I 


1  See  "  Sleep,"  in  Sleep  and  Sleeplessness. 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works.  13 

mean  the  lower  or  inner  faculty  of  reason  which 
carries  on  the  processes  of  mental  work  in  what 
physiologists  call  "unconscious  cerebration,"  is  capa- 
ble of  performing  very  active  functions  during  sleep, 
and  some  of  its  imaginings  approach  closely  to  the 
seeming  originality  of  waking  thought.  Again,  there 
are  many  degrees  of  insensibility  in  sleep,  and  in  the 
lighter  forms  of  slumber  particular  series  of  thought- 
records  are  called  into  activity  by  passing  impres- 
sions of  sound  and  sight  —  such  as  the  flashing 
of  a  light  across  the  closed  eyelids  —  and  general 
sensations  like  those  of  cold,  heat,  or  skin-irri- 
tation. 

Something  also  is  due  to  position  when  sleeping. 
The  blood  —  which  is  the  life  —  flows  more,  or  less, 
freely  through  dependent  parts  of  the  body  and  limbs 
happening  to  lie  in  constrained  postures ;  and  this 
circumstance  with  its  conditions  produces  particular 
activities  of  memory  in  dreams.  Thus  a  cramped 
position  of  the  hands  may  stir  that  part  of  the  brain 
which  is  the  seat  of  those  records,  or  combinations 
of  corpuscles,  that  constitute  the  physical  bases  of 


14  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

dexterity  ;  and  a  man  may  dream  of  his  'prentice 
days,  or  of  some  especial  effort  in  which  his  skill 
was  peculiarly  tested.  In  this  way  also  the  physi- 
cal disturbance  of  any  organ  of  the  body  —  as  the 
stomach  by  food  —  may  induce  recollections  that 
compose  dreams. 

It  is  not  necessary,  or  even  probable,  that  any 
record  of  the  past  will  be  produced  singly  or  intact. 
There  is  a  kaleidoscopic  method  of  throwing  the 
pictures  of  thought  together,  so  that  they  form  appar- 
ently new  compositions ;  and,  when  we  remember 
that  a  very  large  proportion,  perhaps  the  great  ma- 
jority, of  the  impressions  produced  on  the  brain  by 
its  surroundings  have  been  taken  in  unconsciously, 
it  can  occasion  no  surprise  that  the  material  of  our 
dreams  should  seem  new. 

In  these  and  other  processes  memory  may  be 
studied,  and  will  be  found  to  consist  of  a  simple 
current  of  mental  force,  either  projected  by  the  will 
or  wandering  in  obedience  to  physical  laws  uncon- 
sciously, along  old  tracks  of  connection,  or  glancing 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works.  15 

from  stratum  to  stratum  in  the  mass  of  impressed, 
or  combined,  brain  corpuscles. 

It  follows  from  these  general  considerations  that 
what  we  call  the  mind  is  not  only  stored  with,  but 
affected  by,  the  multitude  of  impressions  it  receives 
from  its  surroundings,  and  that  only  a  small  part  of 
the  process  of  brain-marking  or  registering  is  under 
the  cognizance  and  control  of  the  will.  Hence  the 
obvious  importance  of  protecting  the  young  from 
"  evil  communications  "  which  —  since  every  im- 
pressed record  may,  like  the  dotted  and  lined  tin- 
foil of  the  phonograph,  be  some  day  reproduced  as 
an  expression  —  will  certainly  "  corrupt  good  man- 
ners." 

What  is  taken  into  the  mind  consciously,  and  per- 
haps even  that  which  is  taken-in  unconsciously,  is 
recast  in  a  particular  mould  through  a  special  men- 
tal sense,  instinctively,  before  it  is  recorded.  It 
must  therefore  help  the  power  of  recollection  to 
ascertain  what  this  special  sense  is  in  each  indi- 
vidual experience.  The  mistakes  made  in  recol- 


1 6  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

lecting  —  for  example,  in  writing  from  dictation 
—  will  often  guide  to  the  sense. 

Thus,  when  words  of  similar  sound  are  com- 
monly substituted  for  those  it  is  desired  to  write, 
probably  the  mind  is  accustomed  to  record  its  im- 
pressions by  sound  in  a  sort  of  musical  sense,  and 
will  perhaps  write  and  think  in  the  rhythm  of  a 
particular  tune,  often  one  which  has  much  im- 
pressed the  mind  in  infancy.  From  such  mistakes 
as  compounding  parts  of  different  words  together, 
or  dropping  members  of  a  sentence,  it  may  be  in- 
ferred that  the  mind  pictures  its  thoughts  ;  and  the 
method  of  its  recording,  and  therefore  of  its  recol- 
lecting, process  will  be  mental  vision. 

It  is  obviously  useless  to  suggest  a  visual  habit  of 
recollection  to  a  man  who  records  and  remembers 
by  sound.  A  rough  guess  as  to  which  of  these  two 
methods  any  individual  adopts  may  be  hazarded  by 
observation  of  the  posture  he  assumes  while  think- 
ing, whether  he  seems  to  listen  as  for  a  sound,  or 
fixes  or  closes  his  eyes,  to  call  up  a  picture-thought. 
It  is,  however,  necessary  to  know  whether  he  is  at 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works.  17 

the  moment  "  taking  in  "  an  idea  or  "  storing  it." 
The  method  of  recollecting  of  course  agrees  with 
the  storing  process. 

A  vivid  recollection  of  particular  events  or  sub- 
jects may  occur  when  any  special  part  of  the  brain, 
or  that  organ  as  a  whole,  is  excited  in  disease  or  at 
a  crisis  in  the  physical  life  —  for  example,  in  a  mo- 
ment of  drowning,  or  perhaps  some  form  of  death  in 
which  the  vital  flame  shoots  up  for  an  instant  be- 
fore it  finally  expires.  A  blow  on  the  head,  pro- 
ducing a  general  excitement  of  the  faculties,  may 
quicken  the  memory. 

A  rational  view  of  memory,  wherein  H  consists, 
how  thoroughly  physical  it  is,  and  what  are  the 
laws  that  govern  its  formation  and  exercise,  can 
scarcely  fail  to  prove  helpful  at  any  period  of  life, 
and  especially  in  youth.  Meanwhile  it  should  be 
borne  in  mind,  that  mere  memory  is  not  either  a 
very  exalted  or  an  "  intellectual "  faculty.  The 
lower  animals  and  many  idiots  excel  intelligent 
men  in  this  quality,  the  receptive  and  retentive 
plasticity  of  brain. 


1 8  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

The  highest  form  of  mental  efficiency  is  that 
which  consists  in  a  healthy,  co-ordinated,  disci- 
plined, and  trained  development  of  the  faculties  a 
keen  intellect  may  require  to  employ  in  excogitat- 
ing or  finding  any  idea  which  is  needed  for  the  pur- 
suit of  knowledge  or  the  performance  of  a  behest 
of  the  will. 

The  intellectual  packman,  who  carries  his  stock- 
in-trade  with  him,  is  not  so  high  in  the  scale  of 
mind-growth  as  the  expert  and  cultivated  thinker, 
who  knows  where  to  look  for  what  he  wants  when 
it  is  needed,  and  possesses  the  ingenuity  necessary 
to  make  the  largest  and  best  practical  use  of  the 
comparatively  small  store  of  facts  and  details  of 
"  information "  with  which  he  cares,  or  dares,  to 
burden  his  memory. 

Such  is  a  general  view  of  the  subject  of  memory, 
what  it  is  and  how  it  works.  I  propose  in  the  fol- 
lowing chapter  to  follow  the  lines  of  inquiry  here 
briefly  indicated  further  into  detail,  with  the  en- 
deavour to  deduce  some  practical  suggestions.  To 
make  the  matter  as  plain  as  possible,  it  will  be  nee- 


What  it  is,  and  how  it  works.  19 

essary  to  pass  more  than  once  over  the  same 
ground  ;  but  the  reader  will  forgive  the  repetition  ' 
if  the  object  is  attained.  To  discover  the  secret  of 
a  good  memory  must  be  worth  some  trouble  and 
pains. 

1  On  glancing  over  the  succeeding  pages  at  the  moment 
of  going  to  press,  I  regret  to  find  there  is  great  ne«d  for 
this  apology. — J.  M.  G. 


TAKING-IN  AND  STORING  IDEAS. 

THE  fact  that  there  is  a  practical  difference  be- 
tween knowing  a  thing  and  being  able  to  remember 
it  is  sure  to  be  brought  home  to  the  student  in  any 
branch  of  science,  or  the  man  of  business,  very  early 
in  his  career.  What  precisely  is  the  nature  of  this 
difference,  and  how  is  it  to  be  adjusted?  Before 
we  try  to  find  answers  to  these  homely  but  earnest 
questions,  let  us  expose  and  put  out  of  the  way  a 
source  of  misconception  which  often  occasions  trou- 
ble and  disappointment  to  minds  admirably  fitted 
for  intellectual  work,  but  inexperienced  in  the  exer- 
cise of  their  powers  and  faculties. 

A  man  of  acute  and  clear  perception,  endowed 
with  a  quick  understanding,  will  comprehend  a 
subject,  take  it  in  with  a  rapid  mental  glance,  and 
seem  to  have  made  it  his  own.  He  "  learns  easily," 

(20) 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  21 

but,  alas  !  he  forgets  with  even  greater  facility.  The 
truth  is  that  he  has  never  learnt  in  any  mnemonic 
sense.  What  he  has  done  is  to  apprehend,  and 
although  the  brain  is  undoubtedly  capable  of  a 
process  analogous  to  instantaneous  photographing, 
it  rarely  performs  this  function  at  the  bidding  of  the 
will,  unless  it  has  been  specially  trained  to  do  so ; 
or  when  it  does  thus  instantly  receive  an  impression, 
the  record  is  not  permanent. 

The  faculty  of  instantaneous  mental  photography 
is  more  commonly  the  agent  of  the  sub-conscious- 
ness1 than  of  the  supreme  Consciousness,  and  it 
takes  in  the  impressions  we  would  gladly  have  ef- 
faced, while  those  it  is  desired  to  retain  are  oblit- 
erated almost  as  soon  as  they  are  registered.  Ap- 
prehension, or  the  power  of  "  taking-in  "  ideas,  is  a 
function  of  the  intellect  which  may  be,  and  in  the 
case  of  what  are  called  clever  persons  often  is,  de- 
veloped to  a  high  degree  of  efficiency  without  any 
corresponding  exercise  of  the  "storing"  or  record- 
ing faculty. 

1  See  "  Habit,"  in  The  Secret  of  a  Clear  Head. 


22  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

Just  as  a  man  may  work  out  a  problem,  or  per- 
form an  arithmetical  calculation  with  perfect  com- 
mand of  the  data  and  processes  involved,  but  in  no 
way  burden  his  mind  with  the  details,  or  even  the 
results  of  his  work  —  if  these  do  not  personally  con- 
cern him  —  so  he  may  concentrate  attention  and 
bring  his  reasoning  faculties  to  bear  on  a  subject 
of  study,  mastering  its  details  and  obtaining  a  clear 
comprehension  of  the  whole,  while  he  is  not  reg- 
istering any  impression  to  form  the  basis  of  a 
"  memory." 

It  is  a  notable  circumstance  that  in  a  large  class 
of  minds  the  faculty  of  apprehension  is  developed, 
as  it  were,  at  the  cost  of  that  of  mental  registering 
or  memory,  the  force  of  the  intellect  being  expended 
in  understanding,  while  the  storing  of  impressions 
is  left  to  chance,  which  generally  means  that  it  is 
neglected. 

It  is  therefore  important  to  bear  in  mind  that  a 
quick  understanding  does  not  either  involve  or  im- 
ply an  aptitude  for  study.  It  is  simply  an  effective 
power  of  perception,  and  is  not  uncommonly  asso- 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  23 

ciated  with  a  proneness  to  forget,  which  is  in  truth 
the  effect  of  an  absence  or  inefficiency  of  the  faculty 
of  mental  recording. 

The  distinctness  and  almost  antagonism  of  these 
two  functions  of  the  mind,  "  taking-in  "  and  "  stor- 
ing"—  or  understanding  and  memory — is  curiously 
apparent  in  the  fact,  to  which  I  have  previously 
alluded,  that  some  idiots  exhibit  extraordinary  pow- 
ers of  retention  and  recollection,  while  the  most 
intelligent  hearers  and  readers  frequently  find  to 
their  cost  that  they  are  the  most  forgetful.  The 
intelligent  student  should  not  allow  any  conscious- 
ness he  may  have  of  possessing  a  quick  under- 
standing to  encourage  him  in  the  neglect  to  cultivate 
his  memory  or  be  misled  by  a  "  good  memory  "  to 
assume  that  he  is  endowed  with  high  intellectual 
capabilities. 

It  is,  undoubtedly,  possible  that  the  mind  may 
be  duly  charged  with  a  record  of  any  subject  or 
information,  and,  nevertheless,  be  unable  to  recall  it 
at  will.  This  circumstance  arises  from  the  fact  that 
memory  concerns  the  method  of  recording  rather 


24  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

than  the  record  itself.  A  piece  of  knowledge  —  if 
I  may  use  the  term  —  is  put  away  safely  in  the 
archives  of  memory,  but  no  care  has  been  taken  to 
mark  the  place  of  deposit,  or  to  leave  a  clue  for  its 
recovery  when  wanted.  It  may  turn  up  at  any  mo- 
ment, but  cannot  be  reproduced  by  the  will,  for  the 
simple  reason  that  will  has  not  been  concerned  in 
putting  it  away,  or  is  not  orderly  in  its  action  and 
trained  for  the  special  task  of  recollection. 

The  difference  between  knowing  a  thing  and 
being  able  to  remember  it,  is  the  difference  be- 
tween having  property  and  knowing  where  to  find 
it.  The  way  to  adjust  this  difference  is  to  make 
the  act  of  storing  impressions  a  function  as  well  as 
the  processes  of  receiving  and  shaping  them. 

This  is  what  some  persons  try  to  do  by  a  recourse 
to  what  are  known  as  "  techical  memories."  Those 
who  attach  value  to  these  devices  must  bear  with 
me  when  I  contend  that  they  are  not  in  harmony 
with  the  teachings  of  psychology,  and  are  therefore 
unscientific.  It  would  be  absurd  to  assert  that  they 
are  useless,  because  everyone  knows  that  many  a 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  25 

bewildered  student  has  been  helped  by  such  expe- 
dients ;  but  clumsy  and  needless  tools  are  often 
employed  in  good  work  and,  nevertheless,  wisely 
thrown  aside  when  it  is  found  that  the  work  can  be 
done  much  better  without  them. 

The  natural  and  only  true  basis  of  memory  is  a 
well-formed  impression.  It  is  not  essential  that  the 
impression  should  be  fully  understood  at  the  time  it 
is  made,  or  the  subject-matter  wholly  mastered  by 
the  understanding,  but  if  the  record  is  to  be  found 
by  thought  at  pleasure,  it  must  be  registered  by 
thought,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  be  easily  recover- 
able. If  the  will  is  to  control  the  act  of  recovering, 
it  must  be  directly  concerned  in  that  of  storing,  and 
it  will  greatly  facilitate  the  cultivation  of  a  service- 
able memory,  if  the  processes  of  apprehending  and 
recording  are  studied  together  and  intelligently 
combined  or  correlated. 

The  organ  of  the  mind  is,  as  I  have  pointed  out 
in  the  opening  chapter,  connected  by  several  lines 
of  communication  with  the  external  world  of  fact 
and  suggestion  ;  and  impressions  —  or  more  accu- 


26  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

rately  the  agents  of  impression  —  travel  with 
greater  facility  along  some  lines  than  by  others. 
One  man  will  be  more  effectively  impressed  by 
what  he  hears  than  by  what  he  sees,  and  so  on. 
The  deepest,  clearest,  and  most  permanent  im- 
pressions are  those  made  when  the  subject-matter  is 
communicated  to  the  brain  by  several  senses  at  the 
same  instant,  or  at  least  during  the  same  obser- 
vation. 

The  impression  received  from  an  object  that  can 
be  seen,  heard,  felt,  and  perhaps  brought  under 
cognizance  by  the  olfactory  sense  simultaneously, 
will  be  more  distinct  and  lasting  than  that  of  an- 
other object  which  can  only  be  recognized  by  a 
single  perceptive  faculty.  Nevertheless,  most  per- 
sons have  a  special  aptitude  for  receiving  impres- 
sions through  some  particular  avenue  of  the  senses, 
and  it  is  important  for  the  student  to  ascertain 
which  is  the  most  open  and  sensitive  of  the  lines  of 
communication  in  his  individual  case. 

A  simple  experiment,  which  may  be  described  as 
follows,  will, 'if  carefully  performed,  supply  the  in- 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  27 

formation  desired.  Let  some  person — not  the  sub- 
ject of  the  trial  —  write  on  a  slip  of  paper,  which 
we  will  call  No.  ia,  six  or  eight  familiar  words, 
each  consisting  of  a  single  syllable,  in  such  order 
that  they  shall  not  have  any  connections  of  mean- 
ing or  sense. 

If  the  number  of  words  suggested  should  prove 
too  great  in  any  case,  a  smaller  one  may  be  em- 
ployed, but  it  is  necessary  that  the  words  should  be 
arranged  so  as  to  avoid  the  least  connection,  or  the 
result  will  be  misleading,  because  the  ideas  will  be 
less  in  number  than  the  -words,  whereas  it  is  essen- 
tial that  each  word  should  represent  an  independent 
and  distinct  idea.  Figures  would  do  as  well  as 
words,  but  that  they  too  readily  combine  to  repre- 
sent compound  ideas,  and  for  our  immediate  pur- 
pose we  must  use  simple  ones. 

Let  the  same  person  next  write  the  same  words 
in  a  different  order  on  another  paper,  No.  20,  again 
carefully  avoiding  any  arrangement  which  might 
connect  the  words  in  thought  by  sound,  sense,  or 
meaning.  The  person  to  be  experimented  upon 


28  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

must  neither  have  seen  nor  heard  the  contents"  of 
the  two  papers,  or  even  know  the  precise  number 
of  the  words  written. 

Now  place  the  paper  No.  la  before  the  subject 
of  the  inquiry,  and  let  him  read  it  once  only,  si- 
lently, so  that  no  element  of  sound  may  be  imported 
into  the  experiment.  Then  remove  the  paper,  and 
make  him  at  once  write  down  from  memory  the 
words  just  read  as  nearly  as  possible  in  their  proper 
order.  This  should  be  done  quickly,  because  the 
purpose  of  the  experiment  is  not  to  test  the  perma- 
nence of  the  impression,  but  the  readiness  and 
clearness  with  which  it  is  formed.  As  soon  as  he 
has  written  all  he  can  recollect,  take  away  the  pa- 
per, without  waiting  for  any  correction  or  addition, 
and  mark  it  No.  \b  for  reference  hereafter. 

Next  let  the  person  who  wrote  the  words  on 
paper  No.  2a  read  them  once,  clearly,  at  an  ordi- 
nary rate,  neither  too  fast  nor  too  slow,  and  without 
any  particular  emphasis,  and  let  the  person  to  be 
tested  after  he  has  heard  the  words  read,  immedi- 
ately write  down  what  he  can  remember.  This 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  29 

result  must  be  quickly  removed  with  the  same  pre- 
cautions as  before,  to  avoid  after-thought,  and  the 
paper  marked  No.  2b.  The  process  is  then  to  be 
repeated  in  an  inverse  order,  the  words  chosen 
being  different,  and  the  arrangement  as  heteroge 
neous  as  in  the  first  stage  of  the  experiment,  bu 
the  oral  reading  being  given  first,  and  the  papei 
which  is  read  at  sight  subsequently.  The  paper 
containing  the  results  should  in  each  instance  be 
marked  with  the  number  corresponding  to  the  test 
paper  -\-b. 

The  two  sets  of  papers  are  now  to  be  carefully 
compared,  and  a  judgment  formed  on  the  general 
accuracy  of  the  words  and  their  order.  If  no 
great  difference  is  apparent  in  the  results  obtained, 
the  experiment  may  be  repeated  with  any  variation, 
such  as  the  substitution  of  figures  for  words,  but 
the  conditions  must  be  carefully  adjusted,  so  that 
the  memory  is  not  helped,  or  the  burden  of  the  trial 
will  be  thrown  on  the  "  recollection  "  instead  of  on 
the  faculty  of  "  receiving  impressions." 

It  will  not  generally  be  difficult  to  form  a  clear 


30  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

notion  of  difference  between  the  aptitude  displayed 
for  receiving  by  ear  and  by  eye  respectively,  and 
the  readiest  faculty  will  be  the  one  on  which  it  is 
safest  to  rely  so  far  as  taking-fa  knowledge  is  con- 
cerned. The  man  who  apprehends  most  readily  by 
ear  should  not,  as  a  rule,  take  notes  of  what  he 
wishes  to  remember,  at  least  at  the  time  of  hearing 
a  statement,  whatever  he  may  do  afterwards  ;  while 
he  who  is  not  so  expert  in  receiving  notions  from 
the  ear  as  by  the  eye  will  do  wisely  to  take  down  a 
note  in  shorthand,  or  even  write  a  full  memoran- 
dum, by  way  of  impressing  it  on  his  mind.  The 
latter  will  also  probably  find  that  he  derives  more 
advantage  generally  from  reading  books  than  from 
oral  instruction,  which  is  in  a  special  degree  useful 
to  the  learner  by  ear. 

It  is,  however,  necessary  to  know  more  than  this 
experiment  has,  so  far,  communicated.  The  faculty 
of  "  taking-in"  or  reception  is,  as  I  have  said,  one 
thing,  that  of  "storing"  or  retention  another.  In 
order  to  explore  the  latter,  it  will  be  desirable  to 
repeat  the  experiment  already  described  with  new 


Taking-iii  and  Storing  Ideas.  31 

word  materials,  and  to  allow  an  interval,  say  of 
half  an  hour,  to  elapse  between  the  reading  by 
sight  and  writing  from  memory,  in  the  one  case, 
and  the  same  time  between  the  dictation  and  writ- 
ing in  the  other.  Great  care  must  be  taken  to 
render  the  intervals  as  nearly  as  possible  equally 
distinctive  as  regards  the  way  the  mind  is  employed, 
and  by  reversing  the  order  of  the  sight  and  sound 
tests,  as  previously  indicated,  to  correct  any  error 
likely  to  creep  in  from  the  fact  that  when  the  same 
words  are  brought  a  second  time  under  cognisance 
they  are,  of  course,  familiar. 

This  further  experiment  will  throw  new  light  on 
the  comparative  efficiency  of  the  two  faculties  as 
recording  agents,  but  to  obtain  the  full  information 
required,  the  four  sets  of  test  and  result  papers 
must  now  be  examined  from  another  standpoint. 
The  nature  of  the  mistakes  made  is  not  less  sug- 

O 

gestive  than  the  relative  amount  of  inaccuracy  they 
display.  We  have  already  remarked  that  as  a  rule 
persons  who  habitually  remember  by  ear  —  that  is, 
by  calling  to  mind  a  mental  phantom  of  sound  — 


32  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

will,  when  writing  from  memory,  make  mistakes 
suggested  by  similarity  of  sounds ;  the  words  writ- 
ten, if  not  the  right  ones,  will  be  of  somewhat  like 
sound  ;  while  specially  soft-sounding  words  or  syl- 
lables are  readily  forgotten  and  omitted.  On  the 
other  hand,  those  who  remember  by  pictures  of 
thought  or  mental  characters,  are  apt  to  substitute 
words  that  bear  a  general  resemblance  to  each 
other  in  their  own  caligraphy,  and  to  drop  words, 
or  parts  of  words,  as  though  writing  hastily  from 
an  ideal  copy. 

Errors  of  this  class  are  of  several  kinds.  When 
the  recording  or  the  mentally  constructive  faculty  — 
that  is  the  power  or  function  which  corresponds 
to  the  faculty  used  in  storing  now  considered  as 
giving-out — is  more  acute  and  rapid  in  its  opera- 
tions than  the  muscular  activity  of  the  voice-organ 
in  speaking,  or  the  hand  in  writing,  so  that  in  read- 
ing the  understanding  outruns  the  utterance,  or  in 
writing  the  work  of  composition  goes  ahead  of  the 
pen  —  which  must  generally  be  the  case  with  intel- 
ligent and  practised  readers  or  writers  —  there  will 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  33 

be  a  certain  proneness  to  drop  the  words  in  a  sen- 
tence or  the  letters  in  a  word. 

In  original  writing  and  extempore  speaking  a 
rapid  thinker  composes  in  advance,  and  copies  from 
memory  the  ideal  phrase  he  has  constructed.  The 
mind,  as  it  were,  impresses  the  words  on  a  scroll 
which  seems  to  be  rolled  away  as  rapidly  as  it  is 
filled.  The  higher  faculty  of  thought  works  in 
advance ;  and  the  automatic  faculty  is  perpetu- 
ally struggling  to  transcribe  the  writing  that  glides 
before  it,  or  take  down  the  words  sounded  in 
thought. 

There  is  conclusive  evidence  that  the  process 
of  copying  or  writing  from  dictation  is  automat- 
ically performed  ;  it  may  even  proceed  while  the 
Consciousness  sleeps.  The  progress  maintained  by 
the  mental  composer  —  who,  as  it  were,  pushes 
on  his  ideas  as  he  forms  them  in  the  mind  —  is 
frequently  too  rapid  for  the  mental  copyist,  and 
words  escape  the  latter  and  are  omitted  from  the 
writing  or  discourse. 

When  the  difference  between  the  two  processes 

3 


34  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

is  very  great,  the  higher  faculty  has,  every  now  and 
again,  to  come  to  the  aid  of  the  lower,  which  h;is 
failed  to  catch  the  passing  thought.  When  this 
happens  habitually,  the  progress  of  the  associated 
labour  is  interrupted,  and  almost  any  form  of  mis- 
take or  error  may  ensue. 

In  an  extreme  case  of  this  class  the  condition  is 
identical  with  that  which  obtains  when  a  man  can- 
not carry  a  book  in  his  hand  without  letting  it  fall 
the  moment  his  attention  is  diverted.  The  power 
of  automatic  action  seems  to  be  suspended,  or  so 
impaired  that  it  is  unable  to  carry  out  a  process 
which  has  been  originated  by  the  will,  and  then 
relegated  to  the  control  of  its  subordinate  agent.1 

When  thought  thus  outruns  the  automatic  action 
in  writing,  usually  the  later  words  of  a  sentence, 
the  final  letters  of  a  word,  are  those  dropped. 

A  practised  reader  or  speaker,  as  we  have  before 
remarked,  sees  far  ahead  of  the  word  with  which 
he  is  immediately  engaged.  If  this  were  not  the 


1  See  the  paper  on  "  Habit,"  above  cited. 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  35 

fact,  an  appropriate  inflection  of  voice  would  be 
impossible.  It  is  because  children,  or  adults  who 
are  learning  to  read,  or  who  decipher  with  diffi- 
culty, do  not  see  what  lies  beyond  the  word  they 
are  construing,  their  utterance  is  devoid  of  empha- 
sis. They  cannot  tell  until  the  end  of  a  sentence  be 
reached  whether  it  is  a  question  or  simple  assertion. 
A  diffident  but  quick  reader  or  speaker,  on  the  con- 
trary, not  uncommonly  worries  himself  with  the 
pronunciation  of  a  word  some  distance  in  advance 
of  him,  and  even  rehearses  it  mentally. 

When  the  automatic  faculty  is  not  enfeebled,  but 
only  slow,  it  is  more  common  to  find  sentences  and 
words  left  unfinished  than  deficient  at  the  outset ; 
but  this  rule  scarcely  holds  good  in  practice,  and  is 
of  small  value  in  diagnosis,  because  if  the  automatic 
faculty  be  expert,  though  tardy,  it  tries  to  finish  an 
imperfect  sentence  or  word,  and  may  do  this  by  tack- 
ing on  the  first  or  last  part  of  a  subsequent  word  or 
sentence  which  has  been  imperfectly  recognized 
while  labouring  with  the  earlier. 

The  principle  of  these  errors  may  be  compre- 


36  T}ie  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

bended  by  anyone  who  will  make  the  experiment 
of  transcribing  a  few  sentences  written  round  a 
drum,  which  is  made  to  revolve  at  a  fair  speed  on 
a  vertical  axis,  from  right  to  left  of  the  observer,  and 
is  so  covered  that  one  word  only  can  be  seen  at  a 
glance.  The  automatic  faculty  cannot  read  in  ad- 
vance like  the  perceptive  consciousness.  When  the 
perceptive  or  constructive  power  is  slow  or  embar- 
rassed in  its  action,  the  automatic  faculty  will  some- 
times continue  to  write  the  word  kept  standing  be- 
fore it,  and  either  double  the  word  or  its  letters. 

The  same  result  is  produced  if,  as  often  happens 
when  the  thoughts  wander,  the  consciousness  re- 
peats itself.  Again,  in  the  act  of  trying  back, 
words  clinging  to  the  perceptive  faculty  are  apt  to 
be  transposed.  This  is  a  common  fault,  and  its 
cause  is  nearly  always  located  in  the  higher  con- 
sciousness. It  can  seldom  be  automatic,  as  the  sub- 
ordinate faculty  either  writes,  or  utters,  or  drops  the 
word  before  it.  When  automatic  repetition  occurs, 
that  is  due  to  the  failure  of  the  higher  faculty  to  re- 
move the  copy.  If  the  automatic  faculty  errs  by 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  37 

adding  to  a  word  or  sentence,  it  will  be  by  recall- 
ing a  letter  or  word  already  passed,  and  writing  it 
or  speaking  it  again,  but  this  can  only  occur 
when  no  new  word  is  before  it. 

A  mind  wearied  with  too  prolonged  work  is  ex- 
tremely prone  to  mistakes  of  the  nature  we  are  now 
considering.  Conscious  of  the  effort  it  is  making, 
the  imagination  will  compose  a  whole  sentence  in 
advance,  and  fall  into  confusion  in  writing  or  speak- 
ing it.  Some  transpositions  occur  in  this  way,  but 
they  are  more  commonly  the  effect  of  thought-wan- 
dering than  weariness. 

A  frequent  cause  of  failure  in  the  faculty  of  atten- 
tion is  striving  to  think  of  more  than  one  thing  at  a 
time.  It  is  of  course  impossible  that  the  mind 
should  be  engaged  with  two  topics  at  the  same 
instant.  The  expertness  which  seems  to  accom- 
plish this  feat  is,  in  fact,  a  highly  developed  power 
of  glancing  from  one  subject  to  another  with  great 
rapidity — a  sort  of  mental  trapeze-flying  wherein 
the  performer  often  gets  an  ugly  fall,  and  may  be 
permanently  disabled.  If  he  escape  this  calamity, 


38  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

there  will  probably  come  a  time  when  he  will  dis- 
cover that  he  has  so  impaired  the  power  of  applica- 
tion, that  he  can  scarcely  follow  a  long  sentence  or 
carry  out  a  sustained  process  of  reasoning. 

Those  who  are  compelled  by  their  daily  avoca- 
tions to  practise  this  flying  method  of  thought 
should  for  their  own  sakes  make  it  a  rule  to  read, 
if  possible,  aloud  —  in  any  case  attentively — a 
chapter  or  two  of  some  sufficiently  engrossing  work 
at  short  intervals,  so  as  to  cultivate  the  power  of 
sustained  and  continuous  attention. 

The  habit  of  composition  by  a  process  of  sound- 
conception,  gives  rise  to  a  special  class  of  errors,  in 
which  words  or  letters  having  a  similar  sound  are 
substituted,  and  then  the  defects  of  pronunciation 
proper  to  an  individual,  a  dialect,  or  a  language, 
will  predispose  to  particular  mistakes. 

For  example,  "were  or  wear  will  be  written  for 
where,  witch  for  which,  wen  for  when,  if  no  differ- 
ence in  these  sounds  is  habitually  recognized.  The 
substitution  of  is  for  his,  or  er  for  her  is  a  common 
misadventure  with  those  who  do  not  aspirate  the  A, 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  39 

or  the  opposite  error  may  be  made  by  persons  who 
either  in  jest  or  habitually  sound  h  when  that  letter 
is  absent.  Knew  for  new  is  a  frequent  blunder,  and 
such  substitutions  as  cousin  for  cozen,  not  for  knot, 
rap  for  wrap,  are  obviously  probable.  It  would 
be  easy  to  multiply  examples,  but  these  will  suf- 
fice.1 

A  curious  circumstance  in  connection  with  this 
writing  or  speaking  from  mental  sound  is  that  the 
individual  (unconsciously  it  may  be)  composes  in  a 
peculiar  rhythm,  which  is  often  adopted  from  some 
verse  or  song  which  impressed  the  mind  in  infancy. 

Occasionally  the  recognition  of  this  rhythm,  or 
tune,  will  supply  the  key-note  to  a  character ;  and, 
perhaps,  without  being  aware  of  the  circumstance, 
it  is  by  this  suggestion  experts  in  character-reading 
succeed  in  making  very  shrewd  guesses  as  to  the 
leading  qualities  and  habits  of  a  mind  from  hand- 
writing. 

1  Much  mischief  is  done  by  treating  such  blunders  as 
trustworthy  indications  of  a  special  disease.  They  are 
consequences,  not  symptoms. 


40  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

Persons  who  write  or  speak  from  an  ideal  of 
sound  generally  employ  the  same  agent  in  the  oper- 
ations of  memory.  This  explains  the  fact  before 
noted,  that  a  man  who  uses  mental  sight  in  this 
way  will  gaze  intently  when  he  forgets  anything,  or 
perhaps  close  his  eyes  to  avoid  distraction,  while  a 
person  who  employs  mental  sound  is  more  likely  to 
put  his  finger  to  his  lips,  as  though  to  enforce 
silence,  and  perhaps  incline  his  head  as  though 
listening.  I  merely  mention  this  in  passing. 

It  will  be  evideiU  that  the  facts  we  have  been  re- 
viewing supply  the  strongest  possible  evidence  that 
it  is  by  a  process,  which  I  have  elsewhere  called 
mental-reflex,  errors  of  the  general  classes  noticed 
become  habitual.  They  begin  in  the  sphere  of  the 
mental  operations  by  false  conceptions  and  defects 
in  thought-processes,  and  being  reflected  in  on  the 
brain,  they  give  rise  to  new  combinations,  such  as 
those  which  form  the  physical  bases  of  memory. 
They  are  repeated,  and  the  automatic  apparatus 
develops  a  special  nervous  facility  for  their  commis- 
sion. They  then  become  "  habitual "  or,  which  is 


Taking-in  and  Storing  Ideas.  41 

the  same  thing,  automatic,  and  beyond  the  control 
of  the  will,  which  can  at  best  only  keep  a  watchful 
eye  on  the  way  the  lesser  faculty  performs  its  func- 
tions, and  correct  its  mistakes. 

By  bestowing  a  few  hours  on  the  scrutiny  I  have 
suggested  (pp.  26-32)  any  man  may  obtain  a  con- 
siderable and  useful  insight  into  his  individual  way 
of  taking-in  and  storing  information ;  and  on  the 
basis  of  the  self-knowledge  thus  acquired  he  will  be 
able  to  determine  which  of  his  powers  he  ought  to 
cultivate.  This  preliminary  point  being  settled,  we 
may  proceed  to  study  a  few  of  the  most  practical 
methods  of  developing  the  faculty  it  is  proposed  to 
train,  to  the  highest  attainable  excellence,  which, 
of  course,  will  vary  with  the  individual  energy,  in- 
tellectual force,  and  perseverance. 


WAYS   OF   REMEMBERING. 

WHEN  a  man  knows  that  he  takes-in  most  accu- 
rately and  remembers  with  the  greatest  readiness 
by  sound,  he  should  arrange  his  method  of  study, 
so  as  to  work  by  this  faculty  directly  and  chiefly. 
For  example,  he  ought  to  be  especially  attentive  in 
listening,  and  avoid,  as  much  as  possible,  being  dis- 
tracted by  sounds  other  than  those  which  convey 
information.  He  may  read  aloud  when  studying 
in  private,  and  impress  the  matters  he  desires  to 
remember  upon  his  mind  by  audible  repetition,  as 
a  child  learns  his  lesson  by  repeating  it  over  to 
himself  until  he  knows  it.  Bearing  in  mind  the 
need  of  clues  or  threads  of  association  by  which  to 
recover  the  matters  put  away  in  the  brain,  he 
should  take  care  to  create  for  himself  in  the  act  of 
learning  a  sufficient  number  of  sound-links  which 

(42) 


Ways  of  Remembering,  43 

shall  connect  the  facts  he  desires  to  remember,  with 
others. 

The  various  technical  formulas  constructed  by 
teachers  and  recommended  to  the  student  fail,  first, 
because  they  are  not  the  creation  of  the  mind  which 
employs  them  ;  second,  because  they  are  non-nat- 
ural and  arbitrary ;  and,  third,  because  the  essential 
difference  between  a  faculty  of  remembering  by 
sound  and  by  sight  not  being  recognized,  the  for- 
mulas adopted  are  often  uncongenial. 

Each  individual  ought  to  make  his  own  con- 
necting links  for  ideas,  and  they  should  be  natural, 
scientific,  and,  appropriate  to  his  special  faculty. 
The  man  who  remembers  by  sound  will  find  it 
easier  and  better  to  recall  a  fact,  event,  or  circum- 
stance by  some  formula  which  connects  it  by  sound 
than  by  trying  to  picture  the  subject;  while  the 
reverse  will  be  the  case  with  the  man  who  remem- 
bers by  sight.  The  latter  must  fancy  he  sees  the 
object  or  recall  to  mind  some  written  or  printed 
description  of  it  before  he  can  remember  the  details. 

The  man  who  is  gifted  with  a  memory  for  sounds 


44  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

will  do  wisely  to  employ  that  faculty  constantly. 
The  voice  of  a  speaker  will  help  him,  the  sounds 
of  letters,  even  a  sort  of  musical  notation  which  he 
will  construct  for  himself  intuitively,  will  contribute 
to  the  efficiency  of  the  service  sound  renders  him. 
The  points  for  him  to  bear  in  mind  are  that  in 
learning,  sound-links  or  connections  must  be  formed, 
and  in  "trying  to  remember"  the  posture  of  mind 
should  be  one  of  mental  listening,  because  it  is 
through  a  sound-thought  the  matter  will  be  brought 
back  to  the  consciousness. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  sight  is  the  readiest 
mode  for  the  reception  of  impressions,  and  is  also 
the  agent  of  memory,  the  aim  must  be  to  picture 
every  matter  it  is  desired  to  remember,  either  in  the 
shape  of  an  ideal  image  of  the  object,  or  a  descrip- 
tive record  of  the  subject. 

Professors  of  memory,  taking  advantage  of  the 
large  number  of  persons  who  remember  by  mind 
imagery,  have  developed  the  system  of  teaching  by 
pictures  to  great  perfection.  With  the  aid  of  a  few 
mental  images  of  squares,  or  outlines  more  or  less 


Ways  of  Remembering.  45 

simple,  they  will  enable  a  very  dull  scholar  to  u  rec- 
ollect" the  most  complicated  figures  and  dates,  and 
a  seemingly  bewildering  array  of  facts.  The  for- 
mula of  memory  is  in  all  these  cases  associative, 
and  the  lines  or  spaces  employed  to  fix  the  several 
objects  of  thought  stand  for  the  connecting  links. 

Every  way  of  remembering  is,  as  I  have  said,  a 
process  of  link-making,  and  when  a  single  formula 
can  be  made  to  serve  a  variety  of  purposes  —  acting 
as  the  frame  for  a  multitude  of  pictures  —  the  task 
is  simplified,  and  the  result,  for  a  time  at  least,  pro- 
portionally certain.  A  picture-memory  requires 
that  the  threads  or  connecting  links  by  which  any 
subject  is  to  be  recovered  shall  be  pictorial ;  and  to 
make  the  process  natural  these  links  should  be,  as 
far  as  possible,  the  actual  surroundings  of  the  object 
to  be  remembered. 

There  is  scarcely  any  topic  which  may  not  be 
illustrated  by  figuring  of  some  kind,  and  the  hiero- 
glyphics employed  ought  to  be  of  the  student's  own 
personal  devising,  except  when  a  teacher  has  first 
presented  the  facts  pictorially,  in  which  case  it  is 


46  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

better  to  accept  and  adopt  the  original  imagery,  on 
account  of  the  strength  of  "  first  impressions,"  and 
the  confusion  that  might  be  caused  by  changing 
symbols. 

A  common  error  into  which  beginners  are  apt  to 
fall  is  to  try  to  combine,  and  therefore  confuse,  the 
two  methods  of  remembering  —  by  sight  and  by 
sound.  They  should  be  kept  carefully  apart,  and 
only  one  adopted  —  whichever  is  found  to  be  the 
most  natural  and  susceptible  of  culture,  in  con- 
formity with  the  law  of  development,  which  makes 
growth  and  efficiency  the  fruits  of  exercise. 

A  close  scrutiny  of  the  results  obtained  by  the 
experiments  I  have  suggested  (pp.  26-32)  will  show 
that  there  is  a  class  of  cases  in  which  knowledge  is 
received  by  one  line  of  communication  and  remem- 
bered by  another.  The  number  of  errors  may  be 
greater  when  writing  from  sight  or  sound  respec- 
tively, while  the  nature  Q{  the  mistakes  made  points 
to  the  other  medium  as  the  agency  concerned  in 
remembering ! 

When  this  happens,  it  will  be  needful  to  cultivate 


Ways  of  Remembering.  47 

the  two  faculties  side  by  side  ;  but  they  must  not  be 
confounded,  and  this  may  seem  to  create  a  diffi- 
culty. In  practice,  however,  it  is  easy  to  make  the 
requisite  discrimination,  and  after  the  learner  has 
matured  his  method  of  study,  he  will  find  that  the 
doubling  of  the  process  i-eally  economises  time  by 
improving  the  quality  of  the  work  done. 

The  feat  to  be  accomplished  is  simple  enough, 
and  bears  a  close  analogy  to  the  procedure  of  an 
arithmetician,  who  "proves"  his  sum;  having 
added,  he  subtracts,  or  the  reverse.  So  the  learner 
by  sight  who  remembers  by  sound  must  take  in  his 
subject  by  pictures  or  characters,  and  practise  re- 
producing a  verbal  account  of  them.  If  he  hears 
most  readily  but  remembers  by  sight,  he  will  do 
well  to  listen,  and,  as  I  have  said,  read  aloud  when 
studying,  then  come  away,  or  close  his  book,  and 
proceed  to  picture  what  he  has  been  thinking 
about,  and  draw  or  write  a  description  of  the  im- 
agery, to  impress  it  permanently.  This  is  what 
hundreds  of  persons  do  unconsciously,  and  if  the 
process  be  necessary,  in  any  particular  case,  it  will 
be  found  to  be  natural  and  easy. 


48  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

There  is  nothing  novel  in  these  suggestions  beyond 
the  recommendation  of  a  formal  experiment  to 
ascertain  which  of  the  several  sense-communications 
is  the  most  available  for  practical  purposes.  All 
that  I  have  indicated,  as  being  desirable  to  do,  is 
done  intuitively  by  expert  scholars ;  but  as  intelli- 
gent and  self-controlled  beings,  we  ought  to  know 
the  nature  and  purpose  of  every  intellectual  process 
we  perform,  and  to  young  men  entering  on  any 
career  of  special  study  it  will  be  helpful  to  receive 
a  few  hints  as  to  the  best  mode  of  procedure. 

It  does  not  concern  the  student  standing  on  the 
threshold  of  his  work  to  know  in  what  the  physical 
bases  of  memory  consist  —  if,  indeed,  anyone  is  in 
a  position  to  give  him  precise  information  on  the 
subject  —  but  it  is  of  use  to  him  to  be  told  ho^u  he 
remembers,  and  how  to  choose  the  readiest  and 
most  effective  instrument  for  the  task  he  has  to 
accomplish. 

It  is,  as  I  have  said,  a  higher  and  better  thing  to 
possess  the  power,  and  know  where,  to  acquire  in- 
formation when  it  is  wanted,  than  to  carry  about 


Ways  of  Remembering.  49 

knowledge  as  a  pack-man  bears  his  burden.  At  the 
same  time  there  is  so  much  which  it  is  indispensable 
every  man  should  learn  to  hold  in  his  memory,  that 
I  venture  to  offer  these  few  hints  as  to  "  ways  of 
remembering." 

If  the  reader  has  performed  the  experiment  I  have 
suggested,  and  repeated  it,  so  as  to  correct  or  com- 
pensate the  errors  made  in  working  it  out,  he  will 
be  in  possession  of  certain  definitive  information 
which  is  now  to  form  the  subject  of  practical 
remark. 

1.  From  a  study  and  comparison  of  the  papers 
marked,  at  pleasure,  i£,  2<5  (pp.  26-31),  to  distinguish 
them,  written  immediately  after  reading  or  hearing 
the  words,  and  looking  only  to  the  relative  number 
of  errors,  that  is  to  say,  of  the  words  forgotten  or 
mistaken,    he   will   have   learnt   whether    sight   or 
sound  is  the  most  open  avenue  to  his  mind. 

2.  From   the  results  of   the   second   experiment 
(p.  32)  as  shown  in  the  papers  —  perhaps  marked 
3<3,  4^,  or  with  some  sign  to  distinguish  them  from 
the  previous  set  —  time  being  an  element  in  the  test, 

4 


50  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

and  the  faculty  of  retention  being  tried  by  the  lapse 
of  an  interval  between  the  reading  or  dictation  and 
the  act  of  writing  from  memory,  the  reader  will 
have  further  arrived  at  a  judgment  as  to  which  of 
the  two  classes  of  impressions  is  most  likely  to 
prove  permanent,  those  entering  by  the  ear,  or  those 
presented  to  the  eye. 

3.  From  a  careful  scrutiny  of  the  nature  of  the 
mistakes  made  in  the  eight,  or  more,  papers,  the 
character  of  the  words  dropped,  and  of  those  sub- 
stituted for  the  original,  taking  into  account  the  gen- 
eral habit  of  what  is  called  "  forgetfulness,"  or 
"  inadvertence,"  but  which  we  have  seen  to  be  error 
or  defect  in  the  transcription  of  a  mental  copy  —  an 
ideal  of  sound  or  sight  (pp.  31-38)  —  he  will  have 
learnt  whether  in  remembering  he  employs  the 
same  agency  —  sight  or  sound  —  as  in  "  taking-in." 
We  have  seen  that  this  is  by  no  means  constantly 
the  fact.  Many,  if  not  most,  persons  receive  most 
readily  one  way,  and  remember  another.  The 
number  of  errors  made  will  show  the  best  way  of 
apprehending,  the  nature  of  the  mistakes  made  in 


Ways  of  Remembering. 


writing  from  memory  will  point  to  the  best  way  of 
remembering. 

It  is  necessary  in  framing  any  scheme  for  im- 
proving the  memory  to  take  both  these  inferences 
into  account.  Subjects  or  matters  which  it  is 
desired  to  store  in  the  mind,  must  be  taken-in  by 
the  best  means  or  avenue  of  impression,  and  we 
should  arrange  to  remember  them  at  will  by  the 
method  which  is  the  most  natural,  and  therefore 
effective  to  the  individual. 

The  recognition  of  these  two  distinct  parts  or 
functions  in  what  is  commonly  regarded  as  a  single 
faculty,  and  called  "Memory"  has  not,  so  far  as  I 
am  aware,  been  made  by  any  previous  writer,  and  I 
believe  it  will  prove  of  the  highest  practical  value 
in  an  endeavour  to  cultivate  what  is  certainly  one  of 
the  most  essential  qualities  of  mind-in-action, 
whether  for  purposes  of  learning,  business,  or  the 
ordinary  affairs  of  life. 

Assuming  that  the  reader  has  mastered  the  sub- 
ject thus  far  and  acquired  the  information  to  be 
gained  generally  by  one  or  two,  but  certainly  by  a 


52  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

few  experiments,  such  as  I  have  described,  it  will 
now  be  practicable  to  discuss  the  special  require- 
ments of  distinct  classes  of  subjects,  and  to  set  out 
as  briefly  as  possible  the  rules  by  which  the  aspir- 
ant to  a  good  memory  should  order  his  procedure 
and  may  hope  to  succeed. 

Speaking  generally,  those  matters  which  are  best 
comprehended  by  the  understanding  are  longest  re- 
tained by  the  memory.  That  there  are  many  excep- 
tions to  this  rule,  the  experience  of  every  scholar 
must  convince  him  ;  and,  as  we  have  seen,  persons 
of  so  little  intelligence  as  to  be  called  "  Idiots,"  have 
often  an  apt  faculty  of  retention.  In  short,  memory 
is  a  mechanical  function  of  the  mind,  and  while  it 
is  perfectly  true,  as  men  of  great  intellect  have 
averred,  that  what  is  worth  remembering,  will  be 
retained  if  it  be  thoroughly  learnt,  it  is  permissible 
to  cultivate  the  powers  of  memory  by  every  expedi- 
ent which  will  strengthen,  or  deepen,  the  impressed 
record  we  desire  to  render  indelible,  if  at  the  same 
time  the  faculties  appropriated  for  receiving  and  re- 
calling impressions  are  developed  and  brought  more 


Ways  of  Remembering.  53 

directly  under  the  control  of  the  will.  The  defect 
of  most  methods  which  have  been  devised  and  em- 
ployed for  improving  the  memory  lies  in  the  fact 
that  while  they  serve  to  impress  particular  subjects 
on  the  mind,  they  do  not  render  the  memory  as  a 
whole  more  ready  or  retentive.  The  aim  must 
therefore  be  to  develop  the  natural  powers  rather 
than  trick  them  into  doing  a  special  service. 

To  REMEMBER  FACTS. 

If  it  has  been  ascertained  that  the  mind  takes  in 
most  readily  by  sound,  any  statement  of  fact,  such 
as  a  proposition,  narrative,  or  description,  which  it 
may  be  desired  to  remember,  should  be  heard  or 
repeated  with  the  eyes  shut,  so  as  to  prevent  any 
needless  dispersion  of  nerve  force  through  the  senses 
during  the  act  of  apprehension.  This  may  be  done 
several  times.  Thus  far  the  process  differs  in  no 
respect  from  that  adopted  by  a  child  when  "  learn- 
ing "  its  lessons.  The  point  on  which  I  insist  as  a 
novelty  is  the  observation  that  the  plan  of  "  taking- 
in  "  ideas  must  be  specially  adapted  to  the  individ- 


54  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

ual  peculiarities  and  the  particular  mental  sense 
employed. 

If  it  be  ascertained  by  experiment  that  sight  is  the 
most  open  line  of  communication  to  the  brain,  the 
method  pursued  should  be  to  read  silently  —  not 
even  thinking  the  sound  of  words  —  and  to  trust 
wholly  to  actual  and  mental  vision  for  the  concep- 
tion it  is  desired  to  make. 

In  short,  the  individual  whose  best  faculty  for 
taking-in  is  sight  should  use  sight  only,  and  in  like 
manner  a  person  who  apprehends  most  readily  by 
sound  ought  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible,  trusting  to 
sight.  What  the  sight-receiver  has  heard  he  must 
teach  himself  by  picture-thinking,  while  the  sound- 
receiver  should  turn  what  he  has  seen  into  sound, 
mentally,  by  rehearsing  either  audibly  or  in  thought 
a  description  of  the  object  which  has  been  presented 
to  him  visually. 

We  now  come  to  the  question  of  "committing  to 
memory,"  which  is  an  essentially  different  matter 
from  "taking-in"  clearly  and  rapidly,  whether  by 
sight  or  sound.  This  is  not  generally  perceived ; 


Ways  of  Remembering.  55 


and  the  memory  —  properly  so  called  —  is  not  ex- 
ercised. Those  who  remark  that  it  is  increasingly 
difficult  to  "  learn  "  in  the  school-boy  sense  as  we 
grow  older,  do  not  reflect  that  the  exercise  of  mem- 
ory by  learning  lessons  is  abandoned  after  the  period 
of  student-life,  and  ever  afterwards  the  adult  trusts 
to  the  faculty  of  apprehension  to  keep  his  memory 
alive,  a  misplaced  confidence  often  disappointed, 
albeit  the  cause  of  failure  is  not,  as  I  have  said, 
generally  perceived. 

The  faculty  or  agent  concerned  in  the  mental 
phenomenon  of  recollection,  must  be  ascertained  by 
the  experiment  detailed  at  pages  26-32,  the  mis- 
takes made  in  recalling  a  recent  record  serving  to 
indicate  the  agent  whereby  the  act  of  recollection  is 
performed. 

If  sound  be  the  agent  or,  in  other  words,  if  the 
individual  writes  from  sound-phantoms  when  writ- 
ing from  memory,  the  aim  of  culture  must  be  to 
develop  the  faculty  of  forming  phantoms  of  sound 
and  calling  them  up  at  will.  It  is  in  this  way 
memory  is  to  be  trained  and  exercised.  It  will  be 


56  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

seen  that  the  object  I  propose  to  the  reader  is  to 
train  the  faculty  of  mental  sound-making,  and  to 
bring  it  under  the  control  of  the  will,  as  a  whole, 
without  reference  to  the  special  uses  to  which  this 
faculty  may  be  put.  That  is  a  secondary  matter,  to 
which  we  will  allude  presently.  Advocates  of  the 
use  of  "  technical  memories "  err  by  making  the 
subsidiary  purpose  relating  to  a  particular  use  of 
this  faculty  the  first  and  only  object  of  attention, 
with  this  consequence,  that  the  cultivation  of  the 
faculty  itself  is  neglected,  and  while  they  can  per- 
haps remember  special  matters,  they  cannot  attain 
to  a  generally  "  good  memory." 

To  train  the  faculty  of  recollection  by  the  use  of 
sound-phantoms,  it  is  necessary  to  exercise  two  dis- 
tinct functions  of  the  mind  constantly  and  with  a 
fixed  intention.  An  individual  who  has  satisfied 
himself  that  he  writes  from  sound  should  make  it 
an  hourly  habit  to  think  by  sound.  Subjects  which 
admit  of  being  thought  over  and  "  stored  "  in  the 
mind  by  noting  peculiarities  of  sound  —  such  as 
grouping  terms  under  a  particular  initial  letter  or 


Ways  of  Remembering.  57 

musical  note-sound  —  or  may  be  associated  by  such 
connecting  links  as  the  preponderance  of  a  partic- 
ular sound  or  alliteration  or  rhythm,  should  be  so 
placed  and  grouped.  Associative  sounds  are  al- 
ways to  be  preferred  to  simply  distinctive  sounds. 
When  peculiarities  of  this  nature  are  not  easily 
recognised,  it  is  well  to  cast  the  subject  of  thought 
into  a  rhyming  jingle.  Any  person  who  will  take 
the  pains  to  think  this  out  for  himself  can  have  lit- 
tle difficulty  in  understanding  my  suggestion,  and 
reducing  it  to  practice.  As  soon  as  the  habit  of 
sound-making  begins  to  be  formed*  the  experi- 
menter will  —  if  he  has  not  mistaken  his  faculty  — 
find  it  perfectly  easy  to  think  by  sounds,  and  every- 
thing he  sees,  as  well  as  what  he  hears,  will  fall 
naturally  into  some  niche  in  the  temple  of  sound 
which  his  Consciousness  inhabits. 

The  next  step  must  be  to  exercise  the  rnind  in 
finding  and  recalling  the  sound-phantoms  it  has 
created  and  stored  in  the  memory.  This  is  to  be 
accomplished  by  calling  up  the  sounds  previously 
thought  out,  and  strengthening  their  connections 


58  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

and  making  new  associations.  If  the  mind  is 
busied  with  this  task  for  a  few  weeks,  filling  every 
spare  moment  with  the  exercise,  it  will  be  discov- 
ered that  it  is  possible  to  construct  a  mental  dic- 
tionary of  sounds  signifying  ideas,  so  compre- 
hensive and  easy  of  reference  that  it  will  in  itself 
constitute  "  a  ready  memory." 

There  is,  however,  a  more  precise  method  of 
cultivating  the  faculty  of  recollection  by  sound, 
which  may  be  at  once  made  available  for  special 
purposes,  and,  at  the  same  time,  help  to  strengthen 
the  memory  as  a  whole.  This  method  I  will  now 
describe.  First  let  me  make  an  observation  which 
is  of  considerable  moment  to  the  memory-trainer. 
It  matters  nothing  how  an  idea  is  denoted  in  the 
category  of  thoughts.  It  is  the  idea  itself  we  wish 
to  fix.  In  the  great  majority  of  instances  the  origi- 
nal words,  in  which  it  may  have  been  embodied 
when  received  or  formed,  will  be  sounded  or  pict- 
ured to  the  mind  of  the  person  recollecting  the 
idea ;  but  they  are  of  secondary  importance,  and 
by  laying  too  great  stress  on  the  symbols,  or  phan« 


Ways  of  Remembering.  59 

toms,  of  thought,  we  may  commit  the  mistake  of 
fixing,  and  afterwards  recalling,  the  words,  without 
the  ideas  they  represent.  The  best  way  is  to  re- 
cover the  idea  by  memory  and  clothe  it  afresh  in 
words,  which,  as  I  have  said,  are,  from  association, 
likely  to  be  those  in  which  it  was  first  received,  or 
re-cast  by  thought,  within  the  mind. 

The  recollection  of  ideas  generally  may  be  facili- 
tated by  training  the  faculty  by  which  they  are  most 
easily  recalled  in  the  manner  above  indicated,  that 
is,  by  making  the  formation  of  sound-phantoms  a 
habit,  and  employing  every  spare  moment  to  sum- 
mon back  and  improve  the  phantoms  so  formed,  at 
will.  To  commit  to  memory  and  retain  at  com- 
mand special  facts,  the  reader  may  proceed  as  fol- 
lows. Form  in  the  mind  some  tune,  rhythm,  or 
series  of  sounds,  which  is  suggested,  or  occurs,  to 
the  mind  at  the  moment  when  it  is  desired  to  treas- 
ure anything  in  the  memory  ;  and  first  audibly,  — 
then  in  thought,  —  intone  the  matter  to  be  remem- 
bered, or  enough  of  it  to  connect  the  idea  with  the 
tune,  rhythm,  or  sound-series  with  which  it  is  to  be 


60  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

associated.  It  is  better  not  to  connect  the  subject 
with  any  actual  or  external  sound  occurring  at  the 
time,  because  that  cannot  be  reproduced  at  desire. 
If  a  particular  external  sound  happens  to  impress 
the  mind  at  the  moment,  take  advantage  of  it  for 
the  purpose  of  suggestion,  but  conceive  a  similar 
sound  in  the  mind,  so  that  the  association  may  be 
wholly  under  the  control  of  volition.  Generally, 
as  I  have  said,  it  is  enough  to  form  an  alliterative 
line  or  couplet.  If  we  examine  the  most  commonly 
remembered  sayings  and  proverbs,  it  will  be  found 
that  they  are  nearly  all  either  alliterative  or  rhyth- 
mical. 

Persons  with  a  good  ear  for  music  or  love  of 
verse  will  find  it  easy  to  commit  a  whole  story  to 
memory  by  turning  it  into  a  doggrel.  Sometimes 
only  the  first  rhyme  or  cadence  can  be  remembered, 
but  this  will  generally  be  sufficient  to  recall  the 
entire  idea.  When  a  subject  has  been  thus  "  com- 
mitted to  memory,"  let  a  few  minutes  elapse,  as 
though  to  allow  the  mould  of  thought  to  set.  Then 
recall  the  subject,  and  improve  the  sound-phantom 


Ways  of  Remembering.  6 1 

of  the  thought,  connecting  it  with  other  sound- 
phantoms  by  noting  some  similarity  or  difference. 
Repeat  this  process  five  or  six  times  at  short  inter- 
vals, forming  new  links  by  comparing  the  charac- 
teristics of  the  particular  sound-phantom  which  is 
to  form  the  sign  of  the  new  idea,  with  other  sound- 
phantoms  representative  of  ideas  previously  lodged 
in  the  memory.  Each  review  so  conducted  will 
be  an  act  of  recollection ;  and  after  a  few  of  these 
efforts  of  memory  have  been  made,  the  new  symbol, 
with  its  attached  idea,  will  become,  as  it  were, 
fitted  into  the  consciousness,  and  the  physical  basis 
of  a  habit  of  recollecting  it  will  be  formed. 

The  general  effect  of  this  method  is,  it  will  be 
seen,  to  increase  the  acquaintance  with,  and 
strengthen  the  control  over,  previously  recorded 
sound -symbols;  and  intelligently  performed,  the 
exercise  is,  as  it  were,  a  perpetual  renewal  of  old 
memories.  Moreover,  there  is  an  involuntary  ten- 
dency to  consolidate  as  well  as  deepen  impressions, 
and  in  process  of  time  the  result  which  experience 
shows  to  be  gained  by  concentrating  the  attention 


62  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

on  sounds  alone,  instead  of  allowing  it  to  wander 
amid  uncongenial,  and  —  to  a  mind  having  a  sound- 
instinct  en  rapport  with  the  memory  —  unnatural 
formulas,  will  be  to  reduce  the  multitude  of  sound- 
phantoms  to  a  single  series,  generally  conformable 
to  a  simple  tune,  often,  as  we  have  said,  one 
which  has  been  strongly  impressed  on  the  mind  in 
infancy. 

All  this  will  be  achieved  unconsciously  or  with- 
out effort,  if  only  the  attention  be  centred  on  sounds 
alone,  and  the  individual  who  has  ascertained  that 
he  writes  from  a  sound-phantom,  will  abstain  from 
trying  to  remember  by  mental  picturing,  or  sight- 
phantoms. 

When,  on  the  other  hand,  it  is  ascertained  by 
experiment  that  sight  is  the  medium  by  which 
knowledge  can  be  best  attained,  and  that  in  writing 
from  memory  sight-phantoms  or  pictures  are  em- 
ployed, it  is  necessary  to  -picture  everything  in  the 
mind,  both  in  receiving  and  remembering  subjects. 
What  is  heard  must  be  written  or,  still  better, 
sketched.  Particular  facts  may  be  associated  with 


Ways  of  Remembering.  63 

special  forms,  constituting  a  system  of  mental  hiero- 
glyphics. Persons  possessing  this  instinct  should 
sketch  or  write  everything,  and  may  freely  employ 
every  or  any  system  of  memory  which  consists  in 
placing-  the  signs  denoting  ideas  in  particular 
squares  or  in  pictorial  relations.  Such  methods  are 
as  useful,  because  natural,  in  the  case  of  sight- 
writers,  as  they  are  unsuccessful,  because  unnatural, 
in  the  case  of  sound-writers.  The  circumstance 
that  a  very  large  proportion  of  persons  write  from 
sight  renders  the  aids  to  memory  commonly  sug- 
gested by  experts  widely  useful.  The  suggestions 
to  be  made  for  the  self-culture  of  writers  and  speak- 
ers from  sight-phantoms  are  identical  with  those  I 
have  just  offered  for  the  guidance  of  sound-writers, 
except  that  for  sound-phantoms  and  links  of  asso- 
ciations the  reader  must  substitute  sight-phantoms 
and  connections. 

The  two  classes  of  persons  to  which  I  have  al- 
ready alluded  —  namely,  writers  from  sound-phan- 
toms and  writers  from  sight  or  visual  phantoms 
formed  in  the  mind  and  reproduced  in  the  act  of 


64  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

recollecting  —  may  be  regarded  as  pure  types  ;  but 
the  multitude  of  adults  do  not  fall  under  either  de- 
scription at  first,  and  will  only  come  to  enjoy  the 
full  advantages  of  either  method  after  they  have 
finally  abandoned  that  which  is  found  to  produce 
the  least  satisfactory  results  on  experiment. 

Most  of  us  "  take  in  "  instinctively  by  some  one 
natural  method,  but  remember  habitually  by  a  pro- 
cess which  has  been  forced  upon  the  mind  by  bad 
training  or  an  unwise  recourse  to  empirical  aids  to 
memory,  which  often  lend  help,  although  they  are 
not  natural.1  Young  persons  who  desire  to  acquire 
full  command  of  the  information  they  possess 
should,  I  repeat,  avoid  the  employment  of  any 
system  which  is  not  either  wholly  one  of  sound 


1  I  have  no  desire  to  say  one  word  in  disparagement  of 
the  good  done,  and  service  rendered,  by  the  authors  of 
special  systems  of  Memory.  Their  works  are  well  worthy 
to  be  consulted,  but  it  is  necessary  the  student  should  first 
ascertain  his  own  special  \yay  of  "  remembering,"  and  in 
using  the  means  provided  by  experts,  take  care  to  employ 
only  the  formulae  appropriate  to  his  use  as  a  writer  from 
sound  or  a  writer  from  sight. 


Ways  of  Remembering.  65 

or  wholly  one  of  sight,  of  the  particular  class  and 
nature  proper  to  their  mental  constitution. 

In  seeking  the  improvement  of  an  adult  memory 
we  must  take  matters  as  we  find  them  ;  and  this 
may  be  done  by  the  following  procedure  :  —  First, 
ascertain  the  faculty  by  which  ideas  are  most  readily 
taken-in  (pp.  22-29),  and  employ  that  solely  for 
purposes  of  apprehension  ;  but  do  not  trust  to  it  for 
recollection.  Second,  ascertain  the  faculty  used  in 
writing  from  memory  (p.  30),  and  let  this  only,  and 
always,  be  the  "way  "  subjects  are  impressed  on  the 
memory  and  learnt.  Third,  employ,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, signs  or  phantoms  which  have  a  double  sig- 
nificance, although  regarding  them  exclusively  in 
the  sense  which  agrees  with  the  faculty  used  in 
writing,  as  indicated  by  the  number  of  errors  made. 
For  example,  suppose  a  man  takes-in  most  readily 
by  sound,  let  him  listen  and  imagine  sounds  in 
learning,  but  when  he  tries  to  commit  to  memory 
for  recollection  he  should  employ  the  method 
which  he  commonly  employs  for  memory,  as  in« 
dicated  by  the  nature  of  the  errors  made. 
5 


66  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

In  my  own  case,  sound  is  the  faculty  by  which 
ideas  are  best  received,  and  the  errors  I  make  in 
writing  are  nearly  always  faults  originating  in  con- 
fusion of  sounds.  Nevertheless,  I  have  formed  the 
habit  of  remembering  by  sight,  having  many  years 
ago  bestowed  a  good  deal  of  attention  on  the  system 
invented  by  the  late  Dr.  Crook,  in  which  matters  to 
be  recollected  were  placed  in  squares.  I  can  regis- 
ter and  call  up  to  view  the  several  divisions  of  a 
thesis  by  a  mind-picture ;  and  recollect  what  is 
written  by  reproducing  the  sight-phantom  of  a 
page.  Consequently  my  memory,  though  fairly 
good,  is  of  an  impure  type,  and  defective  for  many 
purposes. 

I  am  compelled  to  get  over  the  difficulty  by  a 
plan  which,  in  default  of  a  better,  I  would  suggest 
for  the  benefit  of  cripples  of  my  own  class  —  which 
we  are  now  considering  —  namely,  those  in  whose 
mental  constitution  there  is  a  mixed  form  of  devel- 
opment. It  is  this  :  select,  for  symbols  of  ideas,  ar- 
rangements of  thought  which  admit  of  being  men- 
tally recognised  by  both  sight  and  sound.  For 


Ways  of  Remembering'.  67 

example,  the  table  of  contents  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this  little  book  will  show  what  I  mean. 
As  I  am  writing  these  sentences,  I  remember  the 
topics  I  have  to  put  under  the  general  head  "  Ways 
of  Remembering"  by  two  mental  impressions 
which,  so  far  as  I  can  ascertain,  are  equally  strong 
in  my  mind.  I  picture  to  myself  four  lines  of  prin- 
cipal headings  for  chapters,  and  between  the  third 
and  fourth  there  are  six  short  lines.  Thus  much 
the  picture  —  which  has  been  only  hurriedly  photo- 
graphed on  memory  by  a  hastily  made  memoran- 
dum when  I  gave  the  publisher  the  outline  —  tells 
me.  Sound  helps  me  to  remember  the  rest,  because 
the  first  three  of  these  subordinate  headings  begin 
with  the  letter  F,  and  the  last  three  with  P.  The 
first  series  comprises  Facts ;  the  second  topic  I  for- 
get ;  the  third  was  Figures.  The  second  series  con- 
sists of  Persons,  Places,  Property.  I  am  compelled 
to  refer  to  the  memorandum  for  the  first  series,  and 
I  find  that  Figures  stands  second  not  third,  as  I  sup- 
posed when  writing  the  last  sentence.  "  Forms," 
the  heading  I  could  not  recall,  just  now,  but  which 


68  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

more  than  once  suggested  itself  without  being  rec- 
ognised, is  the  third  topic,  and  "Figures"  is  the 
second  !  I  account  for  the  mistake  by  the  circum- 
stance that  in  making  out  the  plan  I  hesitated 
whether  to  place  these  two  last-mentioned  head- 
ings as  they  now  stand,  or  to  transpose  them. 
This  will  illustrate  what  I  mean  by  a  memory 
impaired  by  the  habit  of  remembering  by  sight, 
when  sound  ought  to  be  the  sole  agent.  It  will 
also  serve  as  an  example  of  symbols  fulfilling  the 
requirements  of  both  sight  and  sound.  The  order, 
or  place,  of  these  headings  forms  the  pictorial  basis 
for  a  sight-phantom,  which  it  should  be  easy  to  re- 
call ;  the  fact  that  there  are  six,  composed  of  two 
threes,  the  words  in  each  set  commencing  with  a 
particular  letter,  should  supply  the  phantoms  for 
sound. 

I  will  reserve  what  it  is  needful  to  say  further  in 
reference  to  the  several  uses  of  sight  and  sound  until 
the  discussion  of  the  other  special  topics  of  which  I 
have  to  treat. 


Ways  of  Remembering.  69 

FIGURES. 

There  is  a  specialty  in  the  recollection  of  figures 
which  it  is  difficult  to  understand,  but  impossible  to 
question.  Some  persons  have  a  strange,  almost 
amazing,  power  of  remembering  numbers  and 
dates,  while  they  seem  to  have  less  than  the  aver- 
age facility  in  recollecting  other  matters.  Many 
individuals,  on  the  contrary,  have  good  memories 
for  ordinary  subjects  but  are  unable  to  "  bear  in 
mind "  figures  of  any  description.  Again,  in  the 
course  of  disease,  or  decay,  it  may  happen  that  a 
man  will  lose  all  recollection  of  dates  and  numbers, 
while  he  still  remembers  matters  of  a  general  char- 
acter. Taken  together  these  facts  point  to  the  con- 
clusion at  which  the  psychologist  arrives  by  another 
route,  namely,  that  the  memory  for  figures  is  a  fac- 
ulty almost  separate  in  its  exercise,  if  not  distinct  in 
its  nature.  In  any  case,  it  requires  special  measures 
for  its  development. 

Speaking  generally,  I  think  it  may  be  said  that 
the  habitual  writer  from  sound-phantoms  is  not  ex- 


7O  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

pert  in  regard  to  figures,  unless  he  has  intentionally, 
or  compelled  by  the  force  of  circumstances,  bestow- 
ed especial  thought  and  care  on  acquiring  a  knowl- 
edge for  which  he  has  no  natural  love. 

To  remember  figures  by  sound  it  is  almost  always 
necessary  to  group  them  so  that  it  shall  be  a  "  com- 
bination of  sounds  "  the  memory  holds  and  the  will 
tries  to  recall.  This  is  very  remarkable,  and  ac- 
counts for  the  strange  way  sound-writers  quote  and 
repeat  particular  phrases,  signifying  numbers,  sums 
of  money,  and  percentages,  all  the  time  being  con- 
scious, and  not  unfrequently  giving  evident  proof,  of 
a  lack  of  power  to  deal  with  the  data  they  adduce  in 
argument.  As  a  writer  from  sound  I  am  painfully 
conscious  of  this  weakness  in  nearly  every  statistical 
argument  in  which  I  engage  viva  voce ;  and  I  can 
generally  tell  whether  my  opponent  is  or  is  not  a 
sound-writer,  by  the  manner  in  which  he  meets  me 
on  debatable  ground.  In  short,  the  peculiarity  of 
mental  constitution  which  determines  to  the  use  of 
sound-phantoms,  for  the  purposes  of  memory,  does 
not  commonly  exhibit  either  a  liking  or  aptitude  for 
figures. 


Ways  of  Remembering.  71 

The  writer  from  sound-phantoms  will,  therefore, 
do  wisely  to  commit  the  dates  or  numbers  he  de- 
sires to  keep  in  mind  to  the  custody  of  his  mental 
instinct  for  sound,  by  throwing  them  into  the  form 
of  doggrel  or  in  some  way  linking  the  sound  of  the 
words  denoting  the  numbers  to  other  words  which 
may  stand  for  the  idea  with  which  they  are  associ- 
ated. For  example,  instead  of  attempting  to  re- 
member the  figures  1815,  let  him  think  of  the  sound 
expressed  by  "  eighteen  hundred  and  fifteen,"  and 
lest  this  phantom  should  be  confounded  with  others 
in  his  mind,  he  should  connect  it  in  memory  with 
the  word  "  Waterloo "  or  the  phrase  "  Battle  of 
Waterloo  fought  in,"  thus,  "  Battle  of  Waterloo 
fought  in  eighteen  hundred  and  fifteen."  The 
longer  form  of  words  will  be  recollected  with 
greater  ease,  because  it  is  more  important  musically 
than  the  shorter,  and  further,  it  stands  for  two 
ideas,  one  of  which,  that  of  the  military  action,  is 
represented  by  two  signs,  one  common,  i.  e.  fought, 
the  other  specific,  i.  e.  Waterloo. 

There  is  another  possible  clue  by  which  thought 


J  2  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

mav  find  the  record  of  a  date  thus  committed  to 
memory.  For  example,  the  principal  victories  won 
by  the  British  arms  may  be  cast  into  verse  which 
•will  go  to  a  tune,  the  rhythm  and  cadence  marking 
the  order  of  the  words  standing  for  names  and 
elates.  In  any  case  the  man  with  a  memory,  good 
chiefly  for  sounds,  must  use  sound-phantoms  as  the 
materials  of  his  record,  and  it  will  much  facilitate 
his  task  to  link  these  sounds  together,  so  as  to  com- 
pose a  tune  or  chaunt  which  he  can  reproduce  men- 
tally. A  very  simple  sing-song  will  answer  every 
purpose,  and  he  may  have  as  many  of  these  "tunes" 
or  intonations  as  there  are  great  classes  of  figure- 
work  which  he  requires  to  remember.  It  is,  how- 
ever, expedient,  if  not  indispensable,  that  the  stu- 
dent should  make  these  formulae  of  sound-phantoms 
for  himself.  In  any  case,  he  must  take  care  to 
learn  them  by  ear  —  the  ear  of  the  mind — •  and  to 
this  end  he  ought  either  to  compose  them  without 
the  use  of  pen  and  paper,  or  get  some  one  to  read 
them  to  him  when  studying.  The  caution  already 
given  as  to  the  confounding  of  sound-  and  sight- 


Ways  of  Remembering.  73 

phantoms,  is  especially  applicable  to  the  class  of 
persons  whose  needs  we  are  now  considering. 

The  sight-writer  is  naturally  more  at  home  at 
figure-work  than  the  sound-writer,  and  his  pro- 
cedure must  be  altogether  different.  The  best 
method,  I  believe,  for  those  who  use  sight-phan- 
toms, is  to  compound  the  signs  by  which  they 
remember  their  ideas  as  much  as  possible.  A  very 
simple  and  common  plan  is  to  sketch  on  paper  and 
afterwards  picture  in  space,  so  as  to  be  able  to 
reproduce  it  anywhere  at  will,  a  large  square  sub- 
divided into  smaller  squares  like  a  chessboard,  and 
to  place  the  dates  and  figures  to  be  remembered  in 
each.1  This  is  an  admirable  process  so  far  as  it 
goes ;  but  when  a  man  has  been  fancying  figures  in 
squares  for,  say,  thirty  years,  these  phantoms  are 
apt  to  be  mixed  up,  and  label  them  how  he  will, 
the  wrong  square  with  the  wrong  figures  is  likely 
to  be  recalled  when  he  tries  to  recollect. 

To  obviate  this  inconvenience,   it    is   better   to 


1  Substantially,  the  method  suggested  by  Dr.  Crook. 


74  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

sketch  or  picture  in  the  squares  thus  imagined  an 
outline  of  some  form  which  shall  represent  the 
object:  a  mental  hieroglyphic.  If  it  be  required  to 
remember  the  dates  of  a  king's  birth,  coronation, 
and  death,  picture,  in  the  square  proper  to  denote 
the  order  of  the  reign  in  the  succession  of  sov- 
ereigns, a  mental  portrait  of  the  monarch,  and  place 
the  dates  under  one  another  on  the  breast  or  fore 
head  of  the  figure,  just  as  the  whim  strikes  the 
mind.  Do  the  like  with  all  the  sovereigns,  so  that 
the  mind  may  run  naturally  to  the  same  spot  for  the 
information  as  to  each.  A  very  little  practice  will 
enable  a  man  to  picture  the  entire  personnel  of  a 
monarchy  with  its  dates,  and  it  will  be  easy  to  read 
the  record  either  way,  so  as  to  give  the  times  of 
birth,  of  accession,  or  of  death  respectively  in  their 
order. 

The  figures  will  grow  so  distinct  at  last  that  the 
length  of  the  reign  of  any  sovereign  may  be  ascer- 
tained instantly  by  subtracting  the  second  line  of 
figures,  that  denoting  the  date  of  accession,  from 
the  third  or  lowest  line,  which  represents  the  date 


Ways  of  Remembering'.  75 

of  death.  Or  the  age  may  be  got  by  subtracting 
the  top  or  birth  line  from  the  last  or  death  line  of 
figures.  To  fix  such  a  phantom  in  the  memory  it 
is  important  to  recall  it  frequently  and  go  through 
the  arithmetical  processes  just  indicated.  Always 
connect  figures  with  forms  —  the  forms  of  the  things 
to  which  they  relate  —  and  put  these  mental  pic- 
tures in  squares  to  denote  their  chronological  or 
successive  relations.  Subordinate  subjects  may  be 
placed  in  lower  squares  and  expressed  by  less  ornate 
or  finished  forms,  but  let  every  sound-phantom  be 
a  complete  and  firmly  sketched  picture,  with  no 
hesitation  or  blurring  about  it,  or  that  will  express 
doubt  and  cause  the  remembrance  to  be  indistinct. 

It  is  well  to  sketch  the  forms  we  fancy  in  the 
mind.  Many  teachers  lay  great  stress  on  draw- 
ing or  writing  everything.  I  have  already  insisted 
strongly  on  the  value  of  sketching  as  an  adjunct 
to  study,  but  it  is  well  to  work  mentally  when  com- 
mitting a  subject  to  memory.  The  exercise  is  good 
in  itself,  and  develops  the  faculty  of  mind-picturing, 
which  it  is  our  aim  to  train,  and  the  man  who  so 


76  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

works  is  independent  of  place,  opportunity,  and  ma- 
terials. Those  who  can  only  remember  by  writing 
or  drawing  with  material  appliances  are  at  a  seri- 
ous disadvantage  in  ordinary  life  ;  and  the  habit  of 
dependence  ought  not  to  be  formed.  Everything 
should  be  pictured  by  the  sight-writer '  with  sight- 
phantoms,  and  the  form  should  represent  the  object 
with  which  the  date  or  number  to  be  remembered 
is  associated  ;  every  article  being,  so  to  say,  marked 
in  plain  figures  with  its  price  or  statistical  value, 
and  hung  up  in  its  square.  If  the  mind  does  not 
take  readily  to  the  use  of  squares,  any  other  frame 
will  do,  but  it  must  be  so  subdivided  as  to  admit  of 
placing  many  sets  of  figures  in  their  natural  rela- 
tions, thus  creating  links  and  connections  of  thought 
It  is  not  enough  to  fancy  a  number  or  date  in  a 
particular  square,  there  must  be  a  reason  for  the 
selection  of  that  position ;  either  it  comes  in  chron- 
ological order  or  it  is  above  or  below  something 


1  I  have  used  the  term  "writer"  throughout  solely  be- 
cause the  experiments  described  at  pp.  26-32  were  made 
by  writing. 


Ways  of  Remembering.  77 

else.  Some  persons  who  use  squares  or  compart- 
ments and  lines  in  this  way,  are  too  apt  to  forget  the 
constructional  value  of  the  phantom  picture-frame 
itself,  and  so  heap  together  the  records  they  make 
in  a  particular  place  that  it  is  surprising  they  ever 
succeed  in  eliminating  a  correct  number  or  date 
from  the  lumber  of  figure-phantoms. 
We  come  next  to  consider 

FORMS. 

At  the  first  blush  of  the  matter  it  would  seem 
that  forms  could  not  be  treasured  in  memory  by 
sound-phantoms.  It  is  true  that  writers  from  sound 
are  not,  as  a  rule,  good  at  remembering  faces  or  any- 
thing depending  directly  or  chiefly  on  form.  Such 
thinkers  make  strange  mistakes,  forgetting  and  con- 
founding persons  and,  though  in  a  lesser  degree 
perhaps,  places.  Nevertheless,  it  is  possible  to 
overcome  the  difficulty.  The  device  I  am  about 
to  suggest  will  seem  simple,  but  it  is  successful ; 
namely,  to  endow  the  forms  it  is  especially  desired 
to  remember  with  motion  and  sound.  These  two 


78  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

qualities,  motion  and  sound,  are  very  closely  asso- 
ciated. They  combine  to  express  life,  in  which  all 
are  interested. 

When  it  is  required  to  commit  any  form  to  a 
sound-memory,  the  course  pursued  should  be  to 
give  the  form  sound  by  associating  it  with  words, 
noise,  or  an  expression  which  shall  betoken  life. 
Sometimes  it  is  sufficient  to  commit  the  name  of 
the  object  to  memory,  with  some  short  verbal  de- 
scription of  it,  but  when  it  is  practicable,  sound 
should  always  be  connected  in  a  natural  way  with 
the  form :  as  the  tones  of  a  voice  or  the  words  of 
an  utterance,  with  the  form  of  a  man  ;  the  cry  of 
an  animal  with  its  aspect;  or  a  remark  made,  in 
connection  with  a  picture  or  scene.  The  sound- 
phantom  will  constitute  a  convenient  link  by  which 
to  treasure  the  form  in  the  memory  and  recall  it  at 
will.  It  is  possible  in  this  way  to  commit  even  a 
complicated  pattern  to  memory,  although  the  indi- 
vidual has  no  eye  for  colour  or  form. 

To  the  sight-writer  form  is  especially  congenial 
as  a  memory-phantom.  It  is,  in  fact,  the  basis  of 


Ways  of  Remembering.  79 

every  record  he  makes.  Nothing  needs  to  be  said 
on  this  subject  by  way  of  suggestion  for  his  instruc- 
tion, except  that  it  will  be  wise  to  cultivate  the  fac- 
ulty of  mind-picturing  without  either  manual  draw- 
ing or  writing.  A  person  who  desires  to  command 
a  good  working  memory  ought  to  render  his  method 
as  purely  mental  as  possible.  Although  he  may, 
and  should,  sketch  and  write  as  freely  as  possible, 
when  compelled  to  "  take-in"  by  sound,  in  his  own 
study  and  at  all  times  and  places,  when  committing 
to  memory,  the  process  should  be  wholly  mental. 
Again,  the  simplest  and  most  distinctive  signs  will 
be  most  useful,  and  ideas  should  be  connected  by 
every  contrivance  in  picture-making,  so  that  all  it 
is  desired  to  remember  about  a  subject  may  be 
brought  before  the  mind's  eye  by  a  single  effort.  It 
is  a  mistake  to  crowd  the  chambers  of  imagery 
with  sight-phantoms  which  are  neither  assorted 
nor  grouped  for  ready  reference.  The  sight-writer 
should  spend  his  leisure  moments  in  his  mental 
picture  gallery,  observing,  comparing,  and  cata- 
loguing his  treasures. 


80  The  Secret  of  a  Goad  Memory. 

The  three  remaining  topics  falling  under  the 
general  head  "  Ways  of  Remembering,"  have  been 
incidentally  mentioned  in  treating  of  the  previous 
subjects.  It  will  therefore  suffice  to  notice  the  sa- 
lient errors  to  be  avoided  in  regard  to  these,  and 
offer  a  few  general  suggestions. 

PERSONS. 

The  sound-writer  will  remember  persons  by  their 
voices  and  utterances,  or  by  remarks  he  has  heard 
made  upon  them,  rather  than  by  their  forms  or 
features.  Expression  as  a  subject  of  memory,  is  as 
intimately  associated  with  the  words  as  with  the 
aspect  of  a  speaker,  and  may  be  readily  recalled  by 
sound.  Expression  will  in  its  turn  help  to  recall 
form,  but  sounds  should  be  made  the  base  of  the 
record.  Try  to  remember  a  person  as  he  appeared 
when  saying  something  or  being  addressed  by 
somebody.  In  this  way  the  .phantom  may  be  most 
readily  fixed  in  the  memory  and  recalled  to  the 
mind  of  a  sound-writer.  The  sight-writer  will,  of 
course,  picture  in  thought,  and  by  an  effort  at  any. 
time  reproduce,  the  semblance  of  the  form. 


Ways  of  Remembering.  81 

PLACES. 

The  recollection  of  places — a  different  matter 
from  that  which  has  been  termed  the  "  topograph- 
ical instinct,"  wherby  an  individual  will  find  his 
way  over  ground  he  has  not  previously  traversed  — 
is  not  so  exclusively  a  sight-subject  as  it  may  appear 
to  be.  There  are  many  associations  of  sound  by 
which  places  may  be  easily  remembered  ;  for  ex- 
ample, a  cathedral  by  the  sound  of  an  anthem,  a 
place  of  assembly  by  a  lecture,  or  a  spot  on  the 
sea-shore  by  the  sound  of  the  waves  and  wind,  or  a 
farm-yard  by  the  noise  of  poultry,  or  any  place  by 
the  barking  or  whining  of  a  dog.  These  are  sim- 
ply illustrations  which  my  own  memory  supplies, 
but  they  will  serve  to  show  my  meaning.  The 
sound-writer  who  forms  a  habit  of  remembering  by 
sound,  will  be  ever  on  the  alert  to  connect  sound 
with  places,  and  he  will  find  it  far  easier  to  retain 
and  recall  memories  in  this  way  than  by  any  other. 
The  writer  from  sight-phantoms  is  of  course  at 
home  amid  objects  which  admit  of  being  fixed  in 
6 


82  TIic  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

the  mind  by  a  simple  process  of  mental  picturing; 
but  it  is  especially  necessary  that  a  person  so  gifted 
should  be  careful  to  make  ideal  copies  for  his  gal- 
lery of  thought.  Xo  amount  of  gazing  at  objects 
will  impress  them  permanently  on  the  memory  un- 
less a  mental  photograph,  so  to  say,  be  taken  and 
examined  again  and  again  until  it  becomes  thor- 
oughly stored  in  the  mind. 

PROPERTY. 

To  remember  each  article  among  the  belongings 
elf  personal  life,  whether  keys,  papers,  books,  or 
implements  of  work  or  pleasure,  and  to  know 
where  to  find  it  when  wanted,  is  a  task  of  consid- 
erable practical  difficult}-,  not  so  much  on  account 
of  the  complexity  of  the  feat  to  be  performed,  as 
the  want  of  method  which  commonly  prevails  in 
life  and  business,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  scarcely 
ever  possible  to  recall  the  place  of  a  lost  article  by 
any  natural  association.  Even  with  those  who 
begin  wisely  and  have  "  a  place  for  everything,"  it 
can  hardly  be  secured  that  everything  shall  be  in 


Ways  of  Remembering.  83 

"its  proper  place"  when  wanted.  It  is  easy  to 
remember  the  places  allotted  to  particular  objects, 
but  there  is  a  habit  of  putting1  things  out  of  hand 
when  we  have  done  with  them,  and  forgetting 
afterwards  to  return  them  to  their  proper  places. 

The  most  direct  remedy  for  this  evil  is  to  create 
a  new  habit  of  making  the  act  of  putting  articles 
such  as  keys,  papers  and  books  out  of  the  hand,  a 
more  important  matter  than  taking,  them  up  !  Be- 
stow special  thought  on  the  placing  of  objects. 
Let  the  sound-writer  notice  the  sound  made  by  the 
act  of  placing,  and  think  of  its  cause.  It  is  not 
difficult,  nor  does  it  tax  the  attention  inconveniently 
to  do  this  when  the  habit  is  once  formed.  For  ex- 
ample, the  rattle  of  a  bunch  of  keys  on  wood,  in  a 
basket,  among  papers,  on  a  wooden  table  or  a  stone 
shelf,  will  be  different  under  the  different  circum- 
stances. If  every  act  of  the  kind  be  noticed,  when 
the  keys  are  missed,  it  will  be  easy  to  recall  the  fact 
that  they  were  placed  with  a  particular  accompani- 
ment of  sound,  and  the  place  will  then  suggest 
itself.  It  is  only  by  making  it  an  automatic  habit 


84  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

of  the  self- consciousness  to  note  thee  asssociations 
of  sound  they  can  be  rendered  useful  as  links  and 
clues  by  which  to  recover  a  lost  object. 

The  sight-writer  should  do  the  same  thing  with 
objects  of  sight.  He  may  form  a  special  habit  of 
noticing  the  surroundings  amidst  which  he  places 
any  and  every  article,  and  of  particularly  observing 
its  appearance  when  deposited,  or  some  visual  fact, 
sucli  as  the  turning  of  a  leaf,  or  the  tearing  or 
crumpling  of  a  paper.  To  this  habit,  as  to  every 
other  habit  of  thought  which  the  sight-writer  forms, 
or  cultivates,  in  aid  of  his  memory,  should  be  an- 
nexed the  practice  of  making  a  mental  picture  of 
the  object  as  it  is  left.  All  this  will  seem  laborious 
at  first,  but  the  attention,  which  may  without  any 
serious  effort  be  given  to  the  matter  for  a  few 
weeks,  will  effect  a  vast  change  in  the  habits  of 
thought  and  wonderfully  improve  the  memory, 
besides  giving  to  life  as  a  whole  that  method  with- 
out which  everything  like  order  is  irksome,  and  the 
care  of  details  a  continuous  pain. 

I  have  been  desirous  to  avoid  giving  specific  di- 


Ways  of  Remembering. 


rections  for  the  detailed  steps  of  these  several 
"ways  of  remembering,"  because  I  am  convinced 
it  is  far  better  the  student  or  self-trainer  should 
work  out  the  suggestions  submitted  in  his  own 
fashion. 


THE   SECRET   OF  A   GOOD 
MEMORY. 

THE  secret  consists  in  ascertaining  the  nature  of 
the  process  by  which  thought  makes  its  records, 
and  the  Will  must  recall  them.  It  is  useless  trying 
to  remember  by  sound  if  the  memory  has  been  made 
by  picture  ;  or  the  reverse.  The  experiments  de- 
tailed at  pages  26-32,  will,  if  repeated,  at  intervals, 
so  as  to  correct  accidental  errors  of  act  or  inference, 
enable  the  reader  to  possess  himself  of  the  funda- 
mental knowledge  indispensable  to  intelligent  self- 
culture. 

Being  once  acquainted  with  the  faculty  which  is 
likely  to  be  most  serviceable  in  his  enterprise  of 
improvement,  it  remains  to  cultivate  it.  How  this 
is  to  be  accomplished  he  will  learn  from  the  re- 
marks offered  in  the  preceding  chapters.  I  do  not 

think  he  will  need  to  have  recourse  to  special  for- 

(86) 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory.  87 

mulas  for  the  recollection  of  particular  matters ;  but 
if  he  should  find  it  necessary  to  do  so,  the  knowl- 
edge that  sight  or  sound  respectively  are  his  special- 
ties of  memory,  will  enable  him  to  make  a  wise 
selection  of  the  most  congenial  methods.  The 
points  to  bear  in  mind  are :  First,  that  a  sound- 
writer  must  habituate  himself  to  the  creation  of 
phantoms  or  conceptions  of  sound  embodying  or 
expressing  to  his  own  mind,  as  simply  as  possible, 
the  facts,  figures,  forms,  persons,  places,  or  prop- 
erty, he  wishes  to  remember.  Second,  the  connect- 
ing links  and  associations  by  which  he  classes  and 
as  it  were  ties  together  his  thoughts,  must  also  be 
sound-links,  and,  as  I  have  pointed  out,  they  should 
be  arbitrary  mental  links,  that  is  to  say,  such  sounds 
as  can  be  called  up  readily  by  the  mind,  and  which 
do  not  require  a  man  to  go  to  a  particular  place  or 
hear  a  particular  sound  to  "  call  to  mind  "  the  sub- 
ject he  desires  to  be  able  to  remember  anywhere 
and  at  any  time  instantly. 

The  same  is  true  oi"  sight.     A  man  who  employs 
sight-phantoms    should    be    careful   that   they   are 


88  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

thought-pictures,  so  that  thought  may  have  them 
always  at  its  disposal.  It  is  vain  to  make  any  act, 
posture,  or  condition  of  the  body,  the  link  or  con- 
nection by  which  a  matter  is  to  be  remembered. 
Memory  should  be  self-contained.  We  all  remem- 
ber the  story  of  the  scholar  who  learned  his  lesson 
while  playing  with  a  particular  button,  and  could 
"repeat"  it  —  because  it  was  recalled  —  by  again 
playing  with  the  same  button,  and  how,  when  the 
button  was  surreptitiously  cut  off,  he  could  not  say 
his  lesson,  and  stood  confessed  as  a  trickster.  This 
is  what  persons  who  rely  on  "  technical  memories" 
must  be,  unless  their  artificial  aids  to  memory  are 
self-created  phantoms  of  sight  or  sound  stored  in 
the  mind  and  independent  of  the  surroundings. 

Artificial  formulae  for  the  recollection  of  special 
subjects  should  always  be  made  by  the  person  using 
them  ;  and  it  is  desirable  that  he  should  construct 
them  in  thought  only,  whether  by  sound  or  sight. 
They  ought  to  be  very  simple,  and  if  the  matter 
itself  does  not  at  once  suggest  a  phantom,  it  is  bet- 
ter to  employ  one  which  already  exists  in  the  mind, 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory.  89 

and  with  which  the  new  idea  can  be  compared  or 
contrasted  ;  the  new  remembrance  will  then  help 
others.  Above  all  things,  the  mental  signs  for 
thought  should  be  simple  and  natural,  that  the  mind 
may  hot  be  worried  or  bewildered  by  the  burdens 
imposed  on  it. 

To  fix  a  subject  of  memory  in  the  mind,  whether 
it  be  recorded  by  sight  or  sound,  the  record  should 
be  repeatedly  recalled  and  remembered.  Do  this 
at  short  intervals  five  or  six  times  within  a  few 
hours  of  first  charging  the  memory  with  the  subject, 
and  improve,  without  radically  changing,  the  con- 
ception first  formed  of  it.  Comparing,  contrasting, 
or  classing  it  with  the  older  phantoms  of  memory 
will  greatly  help  to  deepen  and  strengthen  the  first 
impression. 

To  attain  a  good  memory,  that  is  a  power  of  in- 
stantly remembering  anything  at  wi'll,  give  the  mind 
abundant  exercise  in  its  leisure  moments  by  recall- 
ing and  again  picturing,  or  re-sounding,  in  thought 
the  phantoms  it  has  previously  received.  By  going 
over  and  over  again -the  same  lines,  it  is  easy  to 


90  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

strengthen  the  memory  as  a  whole  and  to  impress 
particular  subjects  very  deeply.  Besides,  by  this 
exercise  the  mind  comes  to  know  the  weak  points 
in  its  stock  of  knowledge,  and  can  repair  defects 
and  replace  lost  impressions  at  its  convenience,  in- 
stead of  making  the  discovery  of  obliterations  at 
moments  when  it  is  perhaps  of  vital  importance 
they  should  be  reproduced.  The  pains  taken  in 
this  way  will  be  amply  requited. 

Knowledge  recalled  without  the  aid  of  books  or 
again  applying  to  sources  of  external  information  is 
far  more  deeply  and  permanently  impressed  than  by 
any  act  of  repetition  which  is  not  purely  mental. 
One  exercise  of  memory  in  this  way,  the  effort 
being  made  without  extraneous  assistance,  and  by 
the  agency  of  the  particular  mind-sense,  of  sight  or 
sound,  which  happens  to  be  proper  to  the  individ- 
ual, is  worth  many  acts  of  hearing  again  or  reading 
again  ;  which  exercises  concern  the  function  of 
"  taking-in "  rather  than  that  of  "  committing  to 
memory."  Still  less  do  they  relate  to  the  act  of 
recalling  the  subjects  of  memory.  It  is  important 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory.  91 

that  the  essential  difference  of  these  stages  in  the 
process  of  acquiring  and  retaining  knowledge, 
should  be  clearly  understood. 

The  familiar  saying,  "  what  goes  in  at  one  ear 
goes  out  at  the  other,"  accidentally  expresses  anim- 
portant  fact,  namely,  that  the  agent  or  instrument  of 
an  impression  is  something  wholly  apart  from  the 
impression  itself.  It  is  the  stamp,  and  bears  the 
graven  form  of  a  record  ;  but  unless  it  leaves  its 
impress  on  the  brain,  no  memory  can  be  retained. 
I  said  at  the  outset  that  all  sounds  and  sights  and 
feelings  impressed  the  mind  and  influenced  the 
character,  whether  for  good  or  evil.  That  is 
strictly  true,  but  the  impressions  made  by  un- 
observed agencies  and  events  are  generally  blurred 
and  indistinct.  In  any  case  they  are  not  under  the 
control  of  the  will,  because  the  will  has  not  been 
concerned  in  their  production.  It  is  not  enough 
that  a  piece  of  information  should  go  in  by  the  ear ; 
if  it  is  to  be  retained  it  must  be  appropriated  by  the 
mind,  and,  as  it  were,  manipulated  to  a  shape  con- 
sonant vvith  the  mental  habits  of  the  individual. 


92  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

To  some  extent,  as  we  have  seen,  this  process  will 
consist  in  the  transposition  of  the  subject  from  sound 
to  sight,  or  the  reverse,  according  to  the  mental 
preference  ;  but  more  than  this  is  involved  in  the 
act  the  mind  performs  when  appropriating  knowl- 
edge. Thinking  over,  or  studying  a  subject  in 
thought,  is  like  examining  a  hitherto  unknown  ob- 
ject with  curiosity  and  the  desire  to  become  ac- 
quainted with  it.  We  know  what  this  means  in 
ordinary  life,  a  corresponding  exercise  should  be 
performed  by  the  mind  when  a  new  fact  or  subject 
is  brought  under  its  cognisance. 

Much  depends  on  the  way  this  business  is  accom- 
plished. If  the  mind  scrutinises  every  point  care- 
fully, and  in  thought  compares  it  with  standards  of 
excellence  treasured  in  memory,  the  new  subject 
will  be  deeply  impressed,  and  the  record  will  re- 
main indelible.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  mind 
does  not  take  the  trouble  to  go  over  every  little 
feature  of  the  fact  or  inference  before  it,  the  impres- 
sion left  will  be  superficial  and  liable  to  be  efTaced. 
Something  depends  on  the  sharpness  and  depth  of 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory.  93 

the  graven  image  from  which  the  impression  has 
been  received,  but  even  more  is  determined  by  the 
earnestness  which  the  intellect  bestows  on  the  task 
of  "  committing  to  memory." 

A  common  mistake  is  that  of  finding  an  excuse 
for  carelessness  in  the  matter  of  appropriating 
knowledge,  or  committing  information  to  memory, 
in  the  circumstance  that  the  subject-matter  of  an 
impression  is  not  "  understood."  No  doubt  it  is 
easier  and  better  to  comprehend  what  we  learn ; 
but  the  best  informed  persons  are  those  who  have 
the  most  diligent  and  highly-cultivated  powers  of 
observation,  not  necessarily  the  clearest  or  most 
acute  faculties  of  comprehension.  Moreover,  it 
must  often  happen  that  facts  and  subjects  of  great 
value  fall  under  notice  at  moments  when  the  mind 
is  not  looking  for  them,  or,  in  an  educational  sense, 
ready  to  receive  them.  A  man  may  collect  mate- 
jials  and  hoard  them  carefully  before  he  has  occa- 
sion for  their  use,  or  is  even  able  to  estimate  their 
worth.  A  well-trained  mind  will  be  provided  with 
the  power  of  appropriating  all  that  comes  in  its 


94  The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 

way,  and  storing  it  for  future  use,  without  being 
compelled  at  the  moment  to  understand  what  it 
commits  to  memory.  The  young  should  be  espe- 
cially careful  to  cultivate  this  power,  because  it  will 
often  happen  that  they  are  required  to  learn  what 
they  do  not  comprehend,  and  if  it  is  not  possible 
for  them  to  do  this,  in  after  years  they  are  sure  to 
regret  the  want  of  crude  material  to  work  upon. 

"Committing  to  memory"  is  seizing  upon  the 
impression  produced  by  sight  or  sound,  and  so 
reviewing  and  deepening  the  record  made  as  to 
render  it  permanent.  Sometimes  this  can  be  done 
by  repeating  the  act  of  impression,  as  in  repeating 
or  reading  a  passage  again  and  again  in  "  learning" 
it ;  but  the  most  effectual  method  of  accomplishing 
the  object  is  to  revert  several  limes,  at  short  inter- 
vals, to  the  subject,  and,  recalling  the  impression 
left  on  the  mind,  to  re-examine  and  deepen  it  by  a 
mental  act,  without,  unless  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary, referring  to  the  original  source  of  the  impres- 
sion, that  is  the  book  or  object  from  which  the 
sound-  or  sight-phantom  was  derived. 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory.  95 

Re-collecting  is  the  act  of  calling  up  a  brain-  or 
mind-record  at  will.  Obviously,  it  is  impossible 
to  recall  what  we  have  not  consciously  put  away. 
The  subjects  of  memory  which  have  not  been  ap- 
propriated by  the  will  knoTvingly,  cannot  be  sum- 
moned at  pleasure,  although  they  are  apt  to  come 
back  unbidden.  Perhaps  little  more  than  half  the 
stock  of  materials  treasured  in  the  memory  is  under 
the  control  of  the  will.  The  aim  of  the  intelligent 
thinker  should  be  to  bring  his  whole  mind  into  sub- 
jection to  the  authority  of  the  judgment.  If  this 
were  the  purpose  of  all  self-culture,  there  would  be 
fewer  lunatics  in  the  world,  and  not  half  so  many 
dreamers  of  dreams  full  of  tumultuous  thought. 

A  well-ordered  mind  is  one  with  its  faculties 
held  under  discipline,  and  its  pictures  and  records 
of  thought  systematically  arranged,  and  so  placed 
and  connected  among  themselves  as  to  be  easily 
found  when  required. 

The  way  to  improve  a  bad  memory  is  to  set  reso- 
lutely about  the  task  of  "taking  stock"  of  what 
has  been  learnt  and  is  supposed  to  be  known.  A 


The  Secret  of  a  Good  Memory. 


strong  will  can  find  little  difficjlty  in  reducing  the 
chaos  of  a  neglected  mind  to  somethii  g  like  order. 
This  is  one  of  the  first  enterprises  in  which  those 
who  have  bad  memories  should  engage. 

The  subject  is  by  no  means  exhausted.  It  has 
barely  been  practicable  to  do  more  than  indicate 
the  leading  lines  of  study  to  be  pursued,  but  enough 
has  been  said  to  show  the  importance  of  proceeding 
from  a  definite  start-point  and  with  a  set  purpose, 
in  the  enterprise  of  self-improvement,  and  in  this 
I  believe  the  secret  of  a  good  memory  will  be  found 
mainly  to  consist. 


END* 


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h  -althful  and  full  of  sweetness  and  bsanty.  The  story  is  a  worthy  suc- 
c.'SMir  to  Mrs.  Clark's  previous  work. — Boston  Post. 

The  heroine  is  an  excellent  character  for  imitation,  and  the  entire  atmos. 
phere  of  the  book  is  healthful  and  purifying. — Pittsburg  Christian  Advo- 
cate. 
OUR  STREET, 

P.v  the  same  author,  is  a  capital  story  of  every  day  life  which  deals  with 
genuine  character  in  a  most  interesting  manner. 

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THE  TEMPLE  REBUILT.     By  Frederick  11.  Abbe.     Boston: 
D.  Lothrop   &   Co.     Price    $1.25.     A   new  edition  of   this 
poem,  re-written,  enlarged  and  rearranged,  has  been  brought 
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will  be  found  by  those  who  now  read  it  for  the  first  time  a 
work  of  high  purpose  and  rare  ability.     Mr.  Abbe  is  a  poet 
in  the  truest  sense  of  the  word,  ami  his  subject  is  one  which 
gives  the  largest  opportunity  for  thought   and  expression. 
The  poem  involves  the  story  of  primal  innocence,  the  fall  of 
the   soul,  its   restoration  through   Divine   grace,  and   final 
salvation.     By  the  "  temple  "  the  author  typifies  the  soul  of 
man;  it  is  cast  into  ruins  by  sin:  the  new  foundation  is  the 
plan  of  salvation  as  laid  down  by  Christ;  the  builders  are 
the  Christian  virtues  and  graces;  the  implements  are  prayer 
and  good  works:  and  through  these  the  edifice  again  arij.es 
in   its   pristine  purity  and    beauty.     The  author  paints  in 
vivid   language  the  various   scenes  which   rise   before  him 
during  the  progress  of  the  poem;  the  bright  radiance  of  the 
heavenly  courts;  the  thronging  seraphim  and  white-robed 
angels;    the   star-gemmed   skies;    the    beautiful   things  of 
earth;  the  horrors  of  the  pit,  and  the  terrible  scenes  of  the 
last  day.      The   closing   portion    of   the   poem   is   entitled 
"  Hallelujah,"  and  is  a  call  to  all  created  things  on  earth 
and  in  heaven  to  praise  the  Lord  for  his  redemption.     We 
quote  briefly  from  this  section   to  give  the  reader  ah  idea  of 
the  characteristics  of  the  author's  style  and  an  example  of 
his  skill  in  the  choice  and  use  of  language: 

Praise  Him,  ye  mountains!  on  whose  beetling  crags 

Nestle  the  eagles,  peering  for  their  prey; 

Where  from  the,  clouds  of  thunder  tempests  bind 

Their  brows  with  terror,  and  the  sullen  snows 

With  cold  caressing  lap  the  traveler; 

Or  where  the  molten  entrails  vomit  fire 

In  furious  miniature  of  final  doom. 

In  higher  grandeur  yet  will  you  arise, 

Under  a  fairer  sky,  a  calmer  clime. 

Bright  pillars  of  the  sun;  your  radiant  brows, 

Disarmed  of  every  weapon  of  dismay, 

The  purple  pavement  of  angelic  feet, 

With  sovereign  peace  on  every  peak  enthroned. 
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FIELD,   WOOD,  AXD    MKADOW   RAMBLES,   or  How  w« 

Went  Bird's-nesting.  By  Ani;u:<hi  I!.  Harris.  Illustrated  by 
Georiie  F.  Barnes.  Boston:  D.  Lolhrop  &  Co.  Price  $2.00. 
Equal  in  elegance  and  excellence  to  any  publication  of  the 
season  is  Field,  Wood,  and  Meadow  Humbles,  by  Amanda  B. 
Harris.  In  it  the  author  describes  the  adventures  and  ex- 
periences of  two  young  ladies  who  spent  one  summer  in 
searching  the  fields  and  woods  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
the  peculiarities  and  habits  of  the  birds  of  the  region.  The 
story  is  delightfully  told,  and  will  undoubtedly  rouse  scores 
of  young  ladies  to  attempt  the  same  thing  next  season.  The 
work  is  illustrated  by  twelve  exquisite  drawings  by  George 
F.  Barnes,  with  frontispiece,  title  page  and  vignette.  The 
paper  on  which  the  text  and  illustrations  are  printed  is  of 
the  best;  the  margins  are  liberal  and  the  binding  elegant 
and  strong.  Within  and  without  its  attractions  entitle  it  to 
a  foremost  place  among  the  best  gift  books  of  the  year. 

LEADING  MI-;N  OF  JAPAN.  With  a  Historical  Summary 
of  the  Empire.  By  Charles  Lanman.  Boston:  D.  Lothrop 
<fc  Co.  Price  $2.00.  No  man  is  better  qualified  to  write 
upon  Japanese  subjects  than  Mr.  Lanman,  who  for  several 
years  was  a  resident  of  the  Empire,  and  a  student  of  its 
political,  social,  and  religious  elements  and  characteristics. 
During  the  past  dozen  years  Japan  has  taken  immense 
strides  in  \\hat  we  are  pleased  to  call  civilization.  The  cus- 
toms and  beliefs  of  many  centuries  hatfe  been  overthrown: 
the  form  of  government  has  been  changed,  and  methods 
which  have  until  now  been  peculiar  to  western  nations  have 
been  introduced.  It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  all  this  ha» 
been  accomplished  without  effort.  The  men  who  have 
played  the  role  of  reformers  have  had  many  obstacles  to  con- 
tend with,  and  even  now  theie  is  no  lack  of  opposition  to  the 
introduction  of  foreign  eivilixation.  J[r.  Lanman  gives  an 
interesting  account  of  the  changes  mam-,  and  of  the  pros- 
pects for  the  future,  in  these  sketches  of  the  leading  mei.  of 
•in- country.  It  is  a  book  which  everyone  who  wishes  to 
keep  ai'i-east  with  the  times  ought  to  read,  and  which  a  great 
many  will  read.  It  is  the  only  work  of  the  kiiid  which  hai 
ever  been  published. 


204 


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